Our Secret
by TheAnimeFicWriter
Summary: Nozomi hasn't always been much of a talker. However, one day, she musters up the courage to talk to one of the most popular and most beautiful girls in school. How will it go? Is there more to it than that?
1. Chapter 1

Our Secret

Chapter 1

A Discovery

 **Note:** Here's a pretty interesting story for you guys. I haven't ventured into this territory before so be sure to wish me luck. This has also been the most demanded ship story so here it is. I hope you all enjoy and I hope this isn't too cheesy.

Going to school is always a fun thing, but for one of the students at Otonokizaka Academy, it's a complete joy. Toujou Nozomi is a student at Otonokizaka Academy who absolutely loves to go to school. Her academics and club activities are pretty good, but there's really only one reason why she goes to school: A girl named Ayase Eli. This girl has caught her attention to where she longs to see her every day. They're not in the same class, but whenever lunch comes around, everyone eats outside and that's her opportunity to get a good look at her.

However, this girl has mustered up some courage. Every day, Eli hangs out in the locker area with some of her friends. Her plan was to try and talk to her during that time. The only problem was that Eli was the student council president and she was a very strong woman. Trying to talk to someone she didn't even know was going to be difficult.

When lunch came around, Nozomi went to her normal place with her friend Nico and settled in for lunch. It always took Eli a while to come out since she had some things to do for the council, but when she did, it was a sight to see. Her blonde hair flowed through the air and her blue eyes glimmered to every part of the school. This was when Nozomi couldn't be controlled. Her jaw dropped and her food always went to waste. Nico took notice of this and pinched her on the cheek.

"Ow, hey!"

"What? You're making that face again."

"What face? I don't know what you're talking about." In the blink of an eye, her attention was turned back to Eli. She watched her lay out a blanket and take a seat. For some reason, everything this girl did was a spectacle not to miss. "Aaahhhhh." Nico smacked her hand into her face.

"So are you gonna do it then?" Finally, Nozomi returned to normal.

"Eh? What are you talking about?"

"You said you were going to talk to her today. Does that still hold true?" Nozomi was a little hesitant after that. "Or are you going to chicken out like always?"

"No," she said sharply. "I'm going to do it. Just… don't remind me. It's giving me the chills."

"I would think that it wouldn't since you're the one who said you found the courage to talk to her." Nozomi immediately regretted ever telling Nico that.

"You know, I don't like your sass right now. Can't you just give me a break?"

"I'm sorry. Come on, finish your food. Yesterday, you let your food go to waste."

The two of them continued their lunch until the class bell rang. When that happened, they packed up their things, but only Nico was the one who headed off. Nozomi watched as Eli gathered her things and walked off with a smile on her face. Just seeing that made her knees feel weak. Once she was out of sight, Nozomi sighed out loud and headed off to class.

For the rest of the day, Nozomi was stressing out about the talk she was planning on having after school. She didn't know how Eli was going to react or if she was even going to react. She just had to keep a confident mind that things would go better than expected. Another hour went by and school was finally out. She quickly packed up her things and ran to the locker area near the entrance of the school. When she made it to the first floor, she looked down the hall and immediately saw Eli in her magnificent glow. At first sight of her, she quickly grew weak all over her body. However, she couldn't give up now. She had to talk to her. She took a deep breath and slowly made her way to her.

"Um, hi." Eli turned and her hair flowed through the hair, giving Nozomi a fragrance of her beloved scent.

"Hi. Wait, I feel like I know you." Nozomi's heart was already beating out of her chest.

"Well, I wouldn't really expect you to know who I am since I've never actually talked to you, but uh…"

"Toujou, right? Toujou Nozomi." Her heart skipped a beat.

"How… How do you know that?"

"I am the student council president. I am in charge of the student affairs and such."

"Haha, right."

"So, how are you?"

"I'm good. I just wanted to talk to you since you were such a popular girl and you seemed quite nice so I thought I would talk my chances."

"Aw," she said as she brushed her hair out of the way. "Don't think of me as anything other than a normal student though. We're all here for the same thing."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Eli turned her head and looked towards the sun.

"Well, I have to get home. It was nice talking to you. Let's try to do this again sometime." Eli waved goodbye as she headed off on her own. On the other hand, Nozomi could barely believe what had just happened. All she could do was wave slowly like an idiot. It wasn't until Nico came up behind her and whacked her behind the head with a magazine when she snapped out of it.

"So I'm guessing it went pretty well."

"You could say that." Nozomi turned around slowly. "She said we should do it again some time."

"Hm, to be honest, that was not what I was expecting, but good job nonetheless."

"Anyway, I have to get home. I can't think straight if I'm here for much longer." She threw her bag over her shoulder and ran to her house at full speed.

When day turned to night, her parents came home and dinner was finally starting to be prepared. Unfortunately, they didn't enough to complete their desired dinner so Nozomi's mother asked her to go fetch her some things from the store. Nozomi, of course, had to complain since she wanted to think about those words in private. The chance for her to be able to talk with Eli once again was just too much to bear. She wanted to dream and think about it more and more, but no. She was forced to go to the store and buy some things for dinner.

She took the money her mother gave her and headed to the store. When she stepped outside, night was already among her. She had to be quick since there was always that worry of some sickos running around at night. As she made her way to the store, the main road she usually took was blocked off so she had to go on a different through a small alley. She was a little scared about going through there, but there was a lamp illuminating the road so it wasn't too scary.

As she made her way down through the alley, she spotted something strange. There was a hobo sitting near the end of the alley. However, it wasn't just him alone. It looked as though there was someone on top of him. Nozomi drew closer and saw that that person was digging their face into their throat.

"What the heck?" At that moment, the person on top looked over at Nozomi with bright red eyes. Nozomi immediately grew tense and ran the other way. However, it wasn't over. The strange person dashed her way and tackled her to the ground. "Somebody, please help!" Nozomi tried to escape, but that person had a grip on her ankles. They pulled her closer to them and flipped her body over. "Please. I didn't mean to see…" They put their hand over her mouth and that's when Nozomi learned the truth of the situation.

That person had a bloody mouth and fangs. Their eyes were bright red and their hands were extremely cold. Wait, this person appeared to look familiar. Nozomi quickly got used to the dark lighting and figured out who this person was.

End of Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

Our Secret

Chapter 2

A Secret

Blood was dripping on Nozomi's face as the strange person was looking at her with bright red eyes. She tried escaping, but they were just too strong. Once she realized that there was no escape, she closed her eyes and hoped that things would turn out better than she expected.

"Please don't hurt me. I didn't see anything. I promise." There was no response. There was just rough breathing from above.

"Nozomi?" At that moment, Nozomi opened her eyes to see those bright red eyes slowly change to blue eyes. That freezing cold feeling from their skin returned to normal and those fangs retracted back to their hidden location.

"Eli?" She widened her eyes and tried to escape, but Nozomi was fast enough to grab her wrist, preventing her from escaping. "What are you doing here?" She didn't answer. "Who… What are you?" Eli turned her head to avoid eye contact.

"I didn't want anyone to see that, let alone you… Someone I know." Nozomi managed to sit up, but it was worthless. Eli turned back around with that same look as before. She leapt at Nozomi and pinned her to the ground. "I'm sorry, but I can't let this get out. I hope you can understand." She opened her mouth and let her fangs free. Nozomi struggled to get free, but it was just impossible.

"Wait, wait, please don't. I'm sorry."

"Nothing can stop this." She lowered her head and aimed for her neck. Nozomi knew what was happening, but she couldn't get away. She had one thing left to do. It was she could do.

"I swear I won't tell anyone. I can promise that. Please don't hurt me." Eli suddenly stopped her momentum and brought her body back up.

"What did you say?"

"I won't tell anyone. Whatever is happening, whatever happened before… I promise not to tell anyone. Please, don't hurt me." Eli returned to her normal state and sat Nozomi back upright.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. I tried my best, but I just couldn't do it."

"What are you talking about?"

"You said you won't tell anyone. Can you truly keep this a secret?" Nozomi nodded her head vigorously. Eli sighed and looked right at Nozomi. It was hard at first since all of that blood was still covering her mouth. "I'm a vampire." The sound of that word sent a chill down Nozomi's spine.

"A vampire?"

"Yep, and you know what that entitles, right? I need blood to survive. Usually, I'm smart about keeping this a secret, but lately, I've been trying to hold myself back. Unfortunately, when this happens, vampires lose control of themselves and just go crazy. That's what you just saw. I do have to thank you for snapping me out of it. I don't have any control when this happens."

"So… You, um… You drink other people's blood," she said nervously.

"Of course not!" Eli made it a point that this was heard. My family focuses on animals. We know that we are a threat to humanity and we try our best to stay under the radar. It's just that animals around here are hard to find so this kind of things is bound to happen to us."

"You said we. Does that mean there are more vampires here?"

"I can't really say for sure, but I do know that vampires are out there."

Ba dump! Nozomi was so scared by that comment. She read about vampires in some of her stories and they were always depicted as cold-blooded killers. They were beings that people shouldn't mess with. They were also things that were couldn't really be killed. Nozomi was curious about this discovery, but asking if Eli could die was way out of line. She just sat there and fumbled with her fingers. Just sitting next to her, she could feel the cold aura from Eli. Other times, she's never been able to notice this feeling, but then again, she didn't really hang out with Eli enough to know her normal aura.

"So… You're not… scared of me?" This question was difficult to answer. She wanted to answer truthfully, but how could she? She was sitting right next to someone who could easily kill her.

"I don't know." Eli bowed her head in sadness. "But I do know that I was more scared when I walked up to you at school today." That's when Eli turned to looked at Nozomi.

"Why is that?"

"Since we're telling each other the truth, would you mind if I tell you something?"

"Sure."

"I, um… I… I've had the biggest crush on you and being able to talk to you today was the best thing ever. I can't thank you enough. But…"

"Now that you know the truth, you don't feel the same, do you?" Nozomi closed her eyes and turned her head. "Even if you still feel the same about me, I can't possible return your feelings. I'm immortal. You're not." At that moment, Nozomi covered her mouth as she tried to hold back the tears. Eli suddenly stood up. "Thank you for keeping this a secret, but I think it would be best if we didn't see each other anymore." Nozomi looked up, but Eli was already gone.

"We can't see each other anymore?"

…

The next day was quite depressing. Nozomi had a slow start out of bed and when she got to school, things just got worse. Nozomi's eyes wandered the halls in search of Eli even though she made it clear that they shouldn't see each other again. It wasn't until Nico found her way over to Nozomi when things started to get a little better.

"Hey Nozomi, what's up?" She didn't answer at first. "Hey, you awake or did you not get enough sleep because of what happened?" Her eyes shot wide open.

"What are you talking about? How do you know what happened?"

"What? You told me yesterday after it happened. You froze up because you were so happy that it went better than you thought it would." That's when she realized what she was talking about.

"Oh right. I don't know what I'm doing."

"Are you alright? You don't seem good. You want me to take you to the nurse's room?"

"Yes please." Nico took her hand and guided her to the nurse's room. When they got there, the nurse asked what was wrong and Nico said that she was feeling dizzy. The nurse laid her down on the bed and Nico grabbed a seat next to her. "Niccochi, you don't have to stay here."

"It's fine. One day won't kill me."

"Why are you so nice to me?"

"Why would you even ask that? We've known each other for a long time. You're like my oldest friend. It's pretty much part of my daily routine."

"Wow, thanks. That makes me feel better."

"Hey, we're friends. I'm not supposed to be nice."

"But you just said… Whatever! You don't make any sense."

"Nozomi-san. I'm going to head up to the office real quick. Will you be alright without me?" Nozomi nodded her head. "Nico-san, please look after her while I'm gone."

"Of course." She nodded her head and left the room. When she opened the door, Nozomi managed to see Eli walking through the hall with her student council members. With the door opened, they were able to make eye contact with each other. Unfortunately, it wasn't a good look from Eli though. It was almost as if she was disgusted. This immediately made Nozomi felt bad. She turned onto her side and threw blankets over her body. "How are you feeling?"

"Horrible. Please be quiet."

For the rest of the day, Nozomi remained silent and facing the wall. When the nurse came back into the room, she didn't say much either. She tried to offer Nozomi some medicine, but nothing was really wrong with her so it wasn't worth taking. Nico stayed by her side the whole time, but decided to stay quiet until Nozomi opened her mouth. Near the end of the day, Nico grabbed her thing and towered over Nozomi's body.

"Hey, I'm gonna go. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay bye."

When school was out, Nozomi was released and headed home. Unfortunately, when she got home, her mother was already there waiting for her. She said that she didn't groceries from yesterday so she made her go out again. Luckily, the road she normally used was open so she took that for a nice, easy trip to the store. Even though it was a different route, she couldn't help but think about what happened the night before. Just for kicks, she walked into that alley on the way back, but there was nothing there. That homeless man wasn't even there anymore. It was just a dark alley with one even darker secret.

End of Chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3

Our Secret

Chapter 3

A Desire

A couple of days went by and school wasn't very fun anymore. Nozomi tried her best to go through her normal daily routine and let everything else go. Unfortunately, that just wasn't possible. The moments she had to get a quick look at Eli disappeared. It was almost as if she vanished entirely. Because of this, getting through the days was just too hard. Nothing kept her going and nothing made her feel happy. Nico tried her best to keep Nozomi's spirit up, but it just wasn't enough. She came to school looking depressed and went home even more depressed. Nico knew she had to do something.

One late night, Nico decided to call up Nozomi to see what was up. It took a couple of calls, but Nozomi eventually answered her back.

"Hey Nozomi, you up?"

"Now I am. What do you want, Niccochi?"

"Well, you wouldn't really talk to me at school so I thought this was the best way I could talk to you. You better not hang up on me." Nozomi looked at the clock and saw that it was 2am. However, it was also a Friday night so there was no need to worry about waking up early in the morning.

"Alright, fine. What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I'm just worried about you. Ever since you talked to Eli, you've been kind of down. I'm confused because you said it went better than you expected. Were you just lying to me?"

"No, of course not. It did go really well. It's just…" At that moment, Nozomi wanted to spill everything, but she knew that if she did, Nico would just have even more questions and she promised Eli that she wouldn't tell anyone. "I'm the one who's the dummy here."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm being a coward. The last time we talked made me feel all inferior inside so now I'm not sure I can do it again. It just feels weird."

"So, now what? You're just not gonna talk to her ever?"

"I guess not."

"What?! How can you say that? You're the one who wanted to talk to her for so long. I'm not accepting this. Toujou Nozomi, you are going to talk with her when the next week of school comes around whether you like it or not."

"Niccochi, I told you that I can't."

"No, I don't believe you. I know deep down you want to talk to her so I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that that happens. You can thank me later." There was a slight break in their conversation to give Nozomi some time to think. It also allowed Nico to transition the conversation a bit. "Nozomi, I do need to know. Do you love her?" It was inaudible, but Nozomi became frightened from that question. "Do you?"

"I don't know. I get anxious when she looks at me. I get flustered when I even think about her. When I see her, I get all hot inside and can't think straight. None of it makes any sense." Nico sighed incredibly loud.

"Oy. That means you love her."

"It does?"

"Jeez Nozomi, you really do know nothing."

"Hey, don't make fun of me. It's not like I see you eyeing someone at the moment."

"Haha, don't you worry about that. If I ever get into any trouble, I'll let you know. For now though, I'm helping you snag Eli." Nozomi smiled and shook her head.

"Why are you doing this?"

"That's wheat friends do. Why would you even ask that?"

"I don't know." At that moment, Nico looked at the clock and saw that it was 4am. She couldn't but ask if that was truly a two-hour conversation.

"Well, it's getting late. I'll talk to you later. You need to stop worrying and just let things run their course. Alright?"

"Okay. Good night."

"Good night." The two hung up and slept the rest of the night away until morning came around.

For the rest of the weekend, Nozomi was thinking about what Nico said. She wanted her to help get things back on track with Eli even though she has nothing to do with it. That just kept her wondering why she was doing it. Yes, they were friends and friends wanted the best for each other, but it was just weird to think about. Nico wasn't the kind of girl to care this much about love so seeing this was kind of nice.

On Saturday and Sunday nights, Nozomi tried calling Nico to see if they could talk more about it, but for some reason, Nico didn't answer. She called multiple times, but there was no response. It was just the answering machine. Nozomi didn't want to leave a message so she just laid on her bed, wondering where she was and why she wasn't responding all of a sudden. Once she got over the fact that Nico wasn't going to answer, she immediately had the thought of calling Eli. Unfortunately, she didn't have her number so it was just a desire she had. She then started to wonder why Eli was avoiding her in the first place. She promised not to spread her secret so there wasn't anything wrong. That's when Nozomi realized. Vampires are immortal. That alone prevented her from wanting anything to do with Nozomi. She sighed and waited for the next week of school

…

When school came around, Nozomi arrived at school with renewed sense of hope. With the help of Nico, she was determined to speak to Eli once again. Something was a little off about things though. A certain topic was dominating the conversations of the school.

"Hey, did you hear?"

"What?"

"Over the weekend, there's been news of two murders in the area."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Everyone's been saying that ever since that first murder happened, all of these are related."

"Whoa, that's kind of scary."

"I know. It makes me want to go home immediately after school." The two girls laughed as they passed by Nozomi. She managed to overhear their conversation and immediately turned her attention to Eli. She didn't know the extent of these murders, but if they're related to the first one she saw then it has to be Eli. She took a deep breath and ran to the student council room. She arrived and pounded on the door with such furiousness.

"Eli, I need to speak with you." After a few seconds, there was a response from inside.

"Come in." Nozomi barged through the door, but was immediately caught off guard by the other members of the council. "What did you need?"

"I, um… I was wondering if I could speak with Eli in private." The other girls looked at Eli and she nodded her head.

"Give us a few seconds, girls. I'm sure this won't be that long." They bowed to her and headed out of the room. Nozomi opened up the door and closed it behind them, locking it in the process. She then stomped over to Eli with a serious face. "Nozomi, I thought I said it would be best not to…" Nozomi grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her body against the wall.

"What are you doing?"

"Ah, what do you mean?"

"Those murders that happened over the weekend. Why would you do that? I thought you said that you only kill animals."

"Nozomi, I don't know what you're talking about. That wasn't me."

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying to you." She grabbed her back and Nozomi immediately a cold rush from her shoulders. She looked down to see Eli gripping her in the same way. When she looked up, she saw her eyes switching in between red and blue. "I have no reason to lie to you. You already know my secret and you've held your part of the deal. Don't think things that aren't true." Eli gently pushed her back and Nozomi started to shake. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that."

"It's… It's fine. So is that all you needed to talk to me about?" Nozomi looked down in shame.

"Not really," she said softly.

"What else is there? We do have a lot of things to get through right now."

"Did you mean what you said?"

"What are you talking about?"

"That day when I found you, you said we shouldn't see each other anymore. Did you seriously mean that?"

"I don't know. I was just afraid of you seeing me at that moment. Why? Do you want to see me?" Nozomi's eyes widened as Eli pinned a sensitive question on her. She tried to concentrate, but her heart was beating out of her chest. "Don't avoid the question. I expect an answer." Eli got closer and Nozomi's breath started to rougher and rougher. Eli brought up her hand up to Nozomi's cheek and Nozomi jumped. Her hand was so cold. She was expecting it to be warm, but that's when she realized that vampires are cold-blooded.

"Yes!" She slapped her hand out of the way and ran out of the room as fast as she could. When she ran out of the room, Nico was right outside the room. She was meaning to ask how it went, but apparently, now wasn't the time for it. The events that occurred in that room meant that things have changed between Nozomi and Eli again.

End of Chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4

Our Secret

Chapter 4

More Secrets Revealed

Nozomi actively tried to avoid Eli after their little incursion. That final question she asked of her and her sudden response to it made her feel horrible about it all. Nico couldn't really intervene in this whole thing since Nozomi also tried to avoid her as well. This was strange behavior for her since she's always known for being the one who was out there and always wanting to be with others. This was just strange. Unfortunately, this behavior didn't last long. Being in the student council, Eli had her ways of finding Nozomi.

One day when she walked into her classroom, there was a note on her table. She looked around, but no one was affiliating themselves with the note. She dropped her things and sat down quietly. For a few seconds, she simply stared at the note. No thoughts in mind; she was just befuddled that something like this was waiting for her. With one deep breath, she reached out for the note and opened it up.

 _You left so abruptly the other day that I didn't get to finish out conversation. Also, I did hear what you said when you ran out of the room. To continue with where we were, I'm inviting you to my house this weekend. The address is down below. I do hope I can see there. ~Eli_

Nozomi's face was bright red as her eyes finished up those last few words.

"Hey Nozomi, what's up?" Nico came up behind her and gripped her by the shoulder. She nearly jumped out of her chair. "What's that?"

"Don't worry about it." Nozomi fell out of her chair and ran out of the room.

"Jeez! What is going on with that girl?" At that moment, Nico saw a beautiful, red head girl pass by the room who immediately caught her attention. "Wow. She's a sight for sore eyes."

…

When the weekend came around, Nozomi was constantly stressing over whether she should go to Eli's house or not. The time for her to show up was approaching, but she couldn't focus. Go, don't go; these two options were having an all-out war inside of her head that she couldn't control. What else was there to be said in that conversation? She got everything off her chest so there was no concern. However, Nozomi thought about the other side of the conversation. There was a possibility that Eli wanted to say more. She looked up at the clock and saw that there was 10 minutes left until time ran out. She screamed and ran out of her house.

She urgently looked around and asked everyone she could to help her with directions to Eli's house. Thankfully, there were nice enough people to help her out and she eventually got there with a minute left to spare. When she got there, she stood in front of a huge house with an even more threatening looking door. She took a big gulp and went to knock on the door.

The sound of her knock echoed throughout the house. At that moment, she wondered if Eli wasn't home. She waited a few more seconds and knocked a few more times, but there was no response. She turned around and immediately became disappointed.

"Hm, I guess she's not home today." Right as she went to walk off, the door creaked open which caused her to turn back around. When she did, she saw a pair of bright red eyes looking up at her. "Eli?" Out of nowhere, that pair of eyes jumped at her and tackled her to the ground.

"Perfect. Fresh blood. I've been waiting." The girl on top of her opened her mouth and unveiled her fangs. Nozomi's eyes widened as she tried to escape, but surprisingly, this girl was a lot stronger than she looked.

"Please, let me go."

"Never. You smell like your blood will taste incredible." She lowered her head and attempted to bite her throat, but she was suddenly picked off of Nozomi's body and thrown back into the house.

"What have I told you about trying to suck other people's blood?"

"Who cares? We're vampires. It's part of us."

"I don't care. You need to learn some respect." Eli turned around with her normal radiance. "I'm so sorry about my little sister. She's still young so she doesn't really understand." She stuck out her hand to Nozomi. "Come on in." Nozomi was still a little stressed about what could have happened to her if Eli wasn't there. However, she mustered up the courage to take Eli's hand and be guided inside of her house. "You know, I'm really glad you decided to come."

"Yeah, well, I realized that there was more to talk to you about," she said as she looked around. Nothing really looked weird. The only noticeable thing was that the place was extremely cold. Nozomi could barely stand it. Eli guided her up to her room and closed the door behind her.

"Would you like something to drink?"

"Um, water would be fine."

"Alright, I'll be back in a flash." Eli left the room, leaving Nozomi alone. Of course, curiosity overruled her normal mental state. She wandered the room and examined that she saw.

Most of the things in her room resembled a normal high school girl. She had a dresser, a normal bed, a desk, and a closet full of normal clothes. At that moment, she couldn't but wonder if this girl was really a vampire. But then, something caught her attention. There was a picture on the wall with Eli and another girl in it. That wasn't it though. The other girl looked exactly like Nozomi. The only difference was that she was wearing clothes that looked entirely foreign to Nozomi.

"What the heck?"

"Sorry, that took so long. My sister is being a butthead and asking all kinds of questions." When Eli got in the room, she saw Nozomi staring at that picture. "Interesting picture, huh?" Nozomi immediately jumped. She turned back around and sat down on the floor with her looking at the ground.

"I wasn't snooping."

"Of course you weren't. You were just being a normal human being." She set the drinks on her small table and sat across from Nozomi.

"Shall we continue with where left off?" Nozomi nodded silently. "Actually, where did we leave off?" Eli took a few seconds to think about that. "Ah right, you said that you wanted to see me more." Nozomi's face was nearly about to explode. "What did you mean by that? Do you still carry feelings for me?" This girl was too much for her.

"I've been thinking about what you said. I've been thinking about everything that has happened to me and I just can't get over it. I've liked you ever since I first saw you at school. Now that I know that you're a… a vampire, it still doesn't change my feelings towards you."

"Hm, I see. Well, it's true that I don't dislike you. I'm just surprised that you're not frightened by me. You've seen what I can do to people and yet, you don't show that fear towards me."

"Trust me. I'm scared beyond belief. I just don't think it's right to treat someone differently because they're different." At that moment, Eli's eyes grew bigger as she finally backed off of Nozomi. "You're still a girl, aren't you?"

"Haha, I guess you're right. It's just that I've never heard someone say that about me before. I hope you know that I don't have a lot of friends." Nozomi finally looked at Eli.

"But what about the girls on the student council?"

"They're just members of the council. I know nothing about them. For a person in my position, it's hard to make friends. We all lose them in the end."

"That's a pretty pessimistic way of looking at things."

"Yeah, vampires have become accustomed to thinking like that since immortality is a curse and humans see us as monsters." Eli sighed and drank some water. "I'm sorry for putting this all on you. You must think I'm weirder than I truly am."

"No, no. I find this quite intriguing."

"How?"

"You haven't tried to kill me yet… well, sort of not killed me yet." Eli bowed her head and sighed once again.

"Would you like to know more about vampires?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're keeping my secret and in return, I'm not killing you. However, I think it's only fair that I tell you what we truly are."

"Oh, you don't have to if you don't want to."

"I want to. I think you'll understand after learning more about us." Eli set her drink down and proceeded with her story. "Believe it or not, vampires are actually a pretty recent creation. We are a creation of God to help him with his work. He created Man to live here and care for this planet. However, things got out of hand to where crime and population are off the charts. That's when he created us. We were created with the responsibility to limit the acts of humanity with the judgement of balance and safety. In the beginning, that's what we did and it was working. As things went on, others started to go rogue. They found sport in killing people. God tried to rid us of this world, but with our responsibility still to be completed, we were left as is." She looked up at Nozomi and her face was completely blank. Um, Nozomi?"

"Sorry, that was just a lot to take in." Nozomi went silent again to try and fully understand everything she told her.

"I know I said a lot, but there's still more that I haven't told you."

"Huh?"

End of Chapter 4 


	5. Chapter 5

Our Secret

Chapter 5

Vampires

"Those who went rogue developed many talents. Aside from turning humans into sport, they learned how to turn people into vampires. They eventually taught the normal ones that skill and that started to change things incredibly. As they did their job like they should, the normal ones also figured that they didn't have to kill everyone. Our fangs have a secondary function that only sucks blood to a certain limit, allowing us to leave only a mark." Nozomi was speechless. She had no idea what was happening, even though Eli was breaking it all down for her.

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. You're moving way too fast for me. I don't get it."

"What do you not get?"

"Vampires are immortal right?"

"Yeah."

"How old are you?"

"Nozomi, how does that have any relationship to what I'm telling you?"

"Well, I was wanting to know which side you were on." At that moment, Eli's eyes widened as she took a few seconds to really think about. She wasn't that old, but she did learn about it from her parents.

"My family took on God's work and stuck with it this entire time."

"So," Nozomi said softly, "you've killed people before then?" Eli sighed since there was no way she could hide the truth from her.

"I have, but like I said, it's not like I'm doing it out of enjoyment. Every person I've killed, I've kept their hearts close and their sin even closer. Not a day goes by when I forget about the lives I've taken." Eli dropped her head and set her hands on the table.

"I'm sorry. I'll just head out now." As Nozomi headed for the door, Eli grabbed her by the wrist and threw her back to where she was sitting. The force of her throw sent her on her back and Eli quickly climbed on top of her.

"Wait, are you doing?"

"Just stay quiet."

"But I thought you only killed bad people. I haven't done anything wrong." Eli put her finger over Nozomi's mouth. When that happened, Nozomi couldn't help but moan at the coldness of her finger. At the same time, Eli lowered her head and had all of her focus on Nozomi's lower neck.

"You know, I've never actually felt the warmth of a human being before." Her eyes suddenly turned bright red and Nozomi was starting to get really scared. Her body started to squirm around, but Eli was not allowing her to escape. Her head got closer to her neck and she finally realized that there was no escaping this. She closed her eyes and held her breath. However, what happened next was not what she was expecting. When she opened her eyes, she saw Eli resting on top of her chest.

"W-What are you doing?"

"Sshhh." Eli kept her head on top of Nozomi's chest for a few more seconds until she explained what she was doing. "You heart beats so strongly, and you're so warm. I've never experienced something like this."

"Really?" Nozomi had no idea how to respond to not so she just smiled as best as she could.

"Why would you think I would try to kill you?"

"What?"

"That's what you were thinking after all, weren't you?"

"Uh, well, yes, but…"

"If I had to kill you, it would have already happened." Nozomi widened her eyes.

"Um… If you don't mind me asking, who is that girl in the picture with you?" Eli looked up and saw Nozomi pointing at the picture with the girl that exactly like Nozomi.

"Oh, her…" Eli then looked down as if something struck her in the stomach. "She was my first love." Nozomi immediately pulled back from the conversation.

"I'm sorry. That was not my place to know."

"It's fine. It's better that I talk about it instead of trying to forget about it. I met a long time ago and she immediately stole my heart. She was so kind, so beautiful, and above all, so pure. We did everything together. That was definitely one of the best times of my life. Unfortunately, good things don't always last forever. She was taken from me by another vampire who found enjoyment in sporting humans. I left her alone for a second and when I came back, it was already too late." She bowed her head as a tear ran down her face.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry." Out of nowhere, Eli leapt into her arms and Nozomi was caught off guard by this action. At first, she didn't know, but as she heard the rough whimpering of Eli's voice, she wrapped her arms around her body and held her close. "It's just… There are things that we just can't control no matter how hard we try."

"I know, but to have one of my own kind cause me this kind of pain… It's just not right."

"I know. Sometimes, I feel that humans are just as bad."

"But I've met so many nice human beings. On the other, good vampires are hard to come by." That was her chance. Nozomi took a deep breath and pulled Eli off of her body.

"I happened to meet one, and she's right in front of me." Eli looked up into her eyes and saw that she was telling the truth. In her head, Eli already had the idea that vampires were already bad enough because they were created to kill. Hearing this girl say that she was a good vampire was soothing to the ears.

"I appreciate that, but there are no good vampires in this world. We've all killed innocent people before. There's no denying it. You just so happened to witness me killing someone a few days ago."

"But you can't be so hard on yourself. Everyone makes mistakes. I'm sure even vampires do as well. Don't you remember what you said earlier?" Eli didn't really know what she was talking about since her emotions were getting the best of her.

"No, what did I say?"

"You said that not a day goes by when you forget about the lives you've taken. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"Of course it does."

"Then that means you're taking responsibility for your actions. That's the best thing you can do. Carry those actions on your shoulder and never forget about them."

"But… It's so painful to think about." As much as Nozomi thought she was helping, it didn't appear like she was. Eli had such a pained look on her face. She was continuing to cling to Nozomi's body, but Nozomi didn't really know what to do in this situation. Everything she said triggered Eli to think about something painful in her previous days. She had to turn the momentum of this conversation around. She took a deep breath.

"How often you do just suck other people's blood?"

"Huh? Why are you asking that all of a sudden?"

"I don't know. Everyone has desires. I just wanted to know yours." Eli couldn't help but chuckle at her rash question.

"It's like I told you. I try my best not to unless if I certainly have to."

"What would you do if someone offered their blood to you?"

"What are you…" Out of nowhere, Nozomi brushed the hair away from her neck and turned her head to the side. "No, you can't do this. You're being ridiculous."

"I don't think I am. I've told you my feelings. Isn't taking someone's blood like showing someone a sign of their love?"

"Uh… I don't know what you're talking about. You've read some pretty inaccurate books then because that's absolutely absurd."

"Are you sure? You're acting pretty shy right now." She leaned in closer to Eli and this time, Eli was the one who backed away. "Has no one ever treated you like this?" Eli turned her head.

"I've never gotten this close to someone since I lost her." At that moment, Nozomi backed away. She didn't realize that she was pushing her into a corner. She didn't know why she was doing this. Something just came over her.

"I'm sorry."

"I am too." Eli tackled her back onto her back and suddenly dug her fangs into Nozomi's throat.

"Ah." The feeling of her fangs was unlike anything she's ever felt. She could feel the blood being sucked away from her body. She gripped Eli's arm as tight as she could and Eli did the same. After a few more seconds of stealing her blood, Eli broke away with blood running down her mouth. She quickly wiped it away and bowed her head. "How… How did it taste?" Eli closed her eyes and clenched her fists.

"Why would you ask me that?"

"I still have feelings for you. If it makes you feel better, I'd be more than willing to give you my blood."

"Why would you do this for me?"

"Because it pains me to see someone in your position with so much, but with so little at the same time. I want to help you get through this. I don't care that you're immortal and I'm not. I'll do everything I can to make this easier on you." Eli finally raised her head to look Nozomi in the eyes.

"Why," she asked as a tear rolled down her face. Nozomi quickly put her hand underneath her chin and brought her back up.

"Because I love you."

End of Chapter 5


	6. Chapter 6

Our Secret

Chapter 6

Eli and Nozomi

When that night came to an end, Nozomi headed home in silence. She couldn't help but put her hand on her throat where Eli bit her. It wasn't a feeling she was expecting, but when it happened, it simply odd. She didn't like it or dislike. That was the strange thing for her. On the other hand, Eli couldn't believe what happened to her. It's been so long since someone's shared so much with her and for Nozomi to not show any fear, that was even more out-of-this-world.

Back at Eli's house, she finally made her way down stairs where her little sister was waiting for her. She went into the kitchen to grab another glass of water and as she did that, her little sister was eyeing her the entire time.

"Why did you bring that girl to our house?"

"Why would you even ask me that?"

"She's a human. Did you suck her blood? If you didn't, you should have let me at it." Eli suddenly gave her the stink eye as she shoved her hand into her face and pushed her to the ground.

"Never talk about a human like that."

"Why do you treat them like friends? It's not like they mean anything to us. We meet them and then, boom, they're dead." At that moment, Eli smashed the glass of water in her hands as water spilled all over the floor and a couple shards of glass pierced her hand.

"Our parents may not be here right now, but they raised you better than this. We don't harm humans. They're not our enemies… Or have you forgotten about that?" She didn't answer. She turned her head and headed up to her room. Eli watched her leave and then tended to her hand. She pulled out the shards of glass and cleaned up the blood. Because vampire blood was almost lifeless to vampires, it didn't bring about anything to her. However, she did manage to think about Nozomi. Her blood was warm and so full of life. That was something that she could never have. She sighed and cleaned up the rest of her mess.

…

The next day started off strong. Nozomi woke up on time and got ready as quick as possible. When she left her house, she set off with a smile on her face and a mind of determination. It all happened so quickly, but she mustered up the courage to tell the girl she liked how she truly felt. When she arrived at school, Nico immediately intercepted her and noticed that smile on her face.

"Hey, you're looking happy today. Any reason?"

"Eh, you never know."

"Ah, come on. You can't do this to me. You can tell me."

"It's fine. You don't need to know."

"Well fine. Then I won't tell you what happened with me." Nico sharply turned the other direction which attracted Nozomi's attention. She crossed her arms and started to walk off when Nozomi grabbed her by the arm.

"What happened?"

"Why would I tell you if you won't tell me?" Nozomi puffed out her cheeks.

"Alright fine." At that moment, a hand brushed by her shoulder. When she turned her head, she saw strands of blonde hair pass by her head. It was Eli. She turned her head even more to see a beautiful smile that was directed at her.

"Morning Nozomi."

"M-Morning."

"Hey actually, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Um, sure." Nozomi followed her down the hall and into the student council. The two of them took a seat across from each other and began their little talk.

"What do you think about school?" Nozomi was immediately confused. This was a weird question to start out with, but she did her best to answer the question.

"I like it. There's really nothing to complain about."

"That's good. What about this school in particular? Is there anything you like or dislike?" There was immediately a change in directive so Nozomi knew she had an ulterior motive.

"Um, Eli-san, is there a reason why you're asking this of me?"

"I guess I didn't hide it very well." She looked over at Nozomi who was still wondering what this was all about. "Right. My VP recently had to transfer schools and none of the other girls are capable of filling in the position. I was wondering if you would want to be my VP on the council." It took Nozomi a few seconds to answer since it was quite the question to be presented.

"Well, I've never had any experience with student council so I doubt I would be any help."

"It's not that hard. Most of the work goes to me. All you need to do is accompany me with everything that the student council has to do."

"I don't know."

"Please." Eli bowed her head as her voice changed tone. "I can't ask anyone else. I don't want to ask another stranger and hide this secret from them." At that moment, Nozomi looked at Eli with wide eyes.

"Did your previous VP know?"

"Of course not. I lied to her about everything. I don't want to do that to anyone else. My other two council members are already starting to become suspicious of me. That's why I need you. You'll make my job easier."

"But… Are you sure I'm the best person for this job?" Eli stood up from her chair and walked over to Nozomi. She got down on her knees and stared her straight in the eye.

"You're the only one for this job. You were able to handle my secret so well. I don't want to lie to anyone anymore. Please do this for me." For some reason, this was such a hard thing to answer. She decided to be so honest with her about all of this vampire stuff and yet, a simple request about the student council was like the world was ending.

"I, uh… I guess I could try it out."

"Really?" Eli's face lit up with joy. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

"Of course. Anything to help."

"Okay. Well, we have meetings every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after school. We talk about things that need to done and stuff like that. I'll bring you up to speed when the meetings come around."

"Okay," Nozomi nodded nervously. After that, there was nothing left to be talked about. Nozomi left the room where Nico was waiting for her outside.

"Oh yeah, and one more thing… I don't like honorifics. We know each other enough to not have to worry about that. You can call me anything that's comfortable to you." Nozomi bowed her head. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's just that I was thinking the same way." Eli smiled.

"Then this should be easy for you." Nozomi started to fumble with her fingers which caused Eli to grow curious. "Is there something wrong?"

"This may sound embarrassing, but… Eli-chi?" There was a slight pause in their conversation before Eli answered.

"Haha, Nozomi, you're so cute," she said with a bright smile. "That's fine. I kind of like it." Nozomi returned the smile as she stood up and headed out of the room.

"Heeeyy, what's up?"

"Why do you always do this?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You always manage to find me after interesting things happened to me."

"What can I say? I'm your best friend. Anyway, I think I'll just tell you what I was talking about earlier." Already, it was obvious that Nozomi had no idea what she was talking about. That little conversation she had with Eli really made her lose her concentration as a whole.

"Okay, go right ahead." At that moment, Nico leaned into her shoulder and whispered into her ear.

"I got a girlfriend." Nozomi immediately backed away in shock.

"You got a girlfriend."

"I know. It's insane, right?" Nozomi nodded like an idiot. "Well, this may sound weird, but she's a first year." Nozomi just continued to become struck with confusion. "Oh look, she's right there." Nico turned her around and saw a beautiful girl with short red hair. "Her name's Nishikino Maki and she's a sweetheart."

"Well, good for you."

"Don't sound so depressed. It sounds like things are going well with Eli," she said as nudged Nozomi's arms.

"I don't know what you're talking about." At that moment, the bell rang and Nozomi headed off to class. When she did, Eli walked off out of the room and headed to her class. As she passed by Nico, she caught a whiff of her and knew that something was up. When she turned around, Nico was already gone. She looked up and down the halls, but didn't could see no sign of her.

"Hm."

End of Chapter 6


	7. Chapter 7

Our Secret

Chapter 7

Their Time Together

When the student council resumed their meetings, Eli introduced Nozomi to the rest of her council. They welcomed her with open arms and immediately got to work. Nozomi was pretty slow in the beginning since she didn't really know what she was doing. However, Eli promised her that her job wasn't that hard. The only thing she needed to do was make sure that Eli didn't make any mistakes on the paperwork process.

When they weren't working, the other girls constantly asked Nozomi questions about being a third-year and how excited they were to be working with her. They also mentioned how Eli never actually talked to them so having a new person on the council was a breath of fresh air. For Nozomi, this was such a weird experience since the only person she really talked to was Nico. Nico was very fun, loud, and super hyper so she was kind of used to this. It was just the fact that they were strangers to her that made it a little difficult.

Putting aside the life of a student council member, Nozomi managed to spend time with Nico during school. They talked all of the time even when they were at home. The only thing that was different was that they almost never hung out outside of school. Both of them slowly grew distant in that nature, but at school, it was almost as if nothing had changed.

Finally, one day, the two of them met up in the hall while lunch was happening and decided to have lunch together. In the beginning, the two of them were kind of silent, but eventually something broke their silence.

"So how are you liking student council life?"

"It's alright, I guess. The work's not that bad, but it's just something I'm not quite used to yet."

"I bet. You're not really the kind of person to do those kind of things. You're more of a sit quiet and enjoy the scene kind of person."

"That's true." The two of them exchanged a couple of laughs before Nozomi changed up the conversation on her.

"So how about you and Nishikino-san? I want to hear all about it."

"Ah, there's nothing to talk about."

"Oh come on. You're always talking about finding the perfect person for you. Don't you want to consider the fact that she might be the one? She is very beautiful."

"Yeah she is. But enough about you. How are you and Eli-san doing? She's seems like a very interesting person."

"You definitely could say that. We've been talking a lot lately, but I just feel that I understand her less and less."

"Hm, that's pretty weird."

"Yeah I know. I can't describe, and yet, I feel so comfortable around her."

"That's good."

"Do you feel the same way about Nishikino-san?" Nico suddenly went silent.

"You know I've never been the mature type. I'm not into all of that lovey-dovey stuff."

"So what are you trying to say?" Nico was about to speak, but then she immediately pulled back from what she was going to say.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it." After that, nothing else was said. For some reason, that moment killed their conversation. Neither of them tried to come up with something else to say. They just remained silent until lunch was over. When the bell rang, they headed off to class without saying a single thing.

Once school was done, Nozomi packed up her things and headed off. When she made it to the front gate, she saw Eli waiting there. They caught a glimpse at each other which made Eli walk towards her.

"Eli-chi, what are you doing here?"

"I actually needed to talk to you. Are you busy right now?"

"Actually, I am. My parents need me to come home because they need help with making food. We're having this party coming up and it's kind of like an "all hands on deck" thing."

"Oh, I understand."

"But I could call you later."

"No, it's fine. This is something I should speak to you face-to-face. If you're busy then don't worry about it. We can just do it another time. Have fun." Eli started to walk off which made Nozomi immediately feel bad about it all. She sighed and slapped her hands against her cheeks.

"Hey Eli-chi, if you want, you could come over to my house. I don't know if my parents would allow it, but it'll be worth a shot." She quickly turned around and smiled.

"Alright." Nozomi gestured her in the opposite direction and headed to Nozomi's house.

On the way to her house, the two of them didn't really say anything to each other. Eli wanted to save it all for when they were alone and not rushed. On the other hand, Nozomi didn't even know why she wanted to speak with her so remaining silent and letting Eli command the conversation was her best bet. She was just running though the possible things she could talk about. When they got home, Nozomi called out to her parents and they popped out of the kitchen.

"Hey sweety. Oh, who is this?"

"This is my friend Ayase Eli. She wanted to hang out today. Is it alright if she stays here for a bit?"

"Of course. However…" At that moment, her mother walked down the hall and grabbed her by the hand. "She'll have to work with us. No work, no food," she said with a smile. Meanwhile, Eli looked back in fear as she was dragged into the kitchen. Nozomi smiled and followed close behind them.

Right from the start, they asked so many things of the two girls. They were preparing a ton of food so there was a lot to get done. Luckily, Eli was quick on her feet in situations like this. She understood the instructions that were given to her and completed them to the letter. All three of them were impressed. These weren't easy tasks and yet, Eli was working as if she was back at the student council room. This put a smile on their faces as their workload got smaller and smaller until there was nothing left to do. They all sighed as they collapsed onto the couch.

"Oh boy. Ayase-chan, thank you so much for your help."

"No problem. That was quite fun. If you don't mind me asking, what is all of this for?"

"Our family's a very spiritual one and tomorrow is the day of the fox. We're having all of our friends and neighbors join for that special day."

"Wow, that sounds like fun."

"You're more than welcome to come if you'd like."

"Oh no, I couldn't intrude."

"Of course you can. You did all of this with us. The least you could do was join in on the fun."

"Well, I guess I could come for a bit."

"Perfect. It all works out."

"Um, may we be excused?"

"Of course. Thank you ladies." They grabbed their things and headed up to Nozomi's room. When they got there, they say on the ground and simply stared at each other.

"You're parents are lovely people."

"Eli-chi, can we skip all of that? Why did you need to talk to me like this?"

"You know I wouldn't want to make something worse than it actually was, but I was sure that you needed to know what was going on."

"What are you talking about?"

"In past, you asked me why I killed those people in the news, but that wasn't me. I can promise you that only that man in the alley was me. The other one I had no association with."

"So then why are you telling me this?" Eli sighed and took a deep breath.

"There's another vampire around here and I get the feeling that it's close. Our population is small despite what you may think, but to learn about a vampire being this close to our school is just strange."

"How is it strange?"

"My family does its best to manage this area. There's no need for more than one family of vampires here and yet, there is and the proof is in the news. That murder was definitely a vampire. My father looked into it and found out that that person's blood was nearly gone. What other explanation could it be except for that?"

"I guess you're right."

"It's getting late. I should go. I just want to let you know that you need to be careful. It's hard enough restraining myself around you, but seeing another vampire prey on the innocent like that just disgusts me even more.

"Okay, I promise." Eli nodded her head and stood up. She walked towards the window and opened it up. "Hey, what are you doing?" She stepped through the window and vanished. "What the heck?"

Ring ring. Nozomi turned around to hear her phone ringing. She walked over to it and opened it up to see that it was Nico calling her.

"Hello?" There was no reply. There was just soft whimpering. "Niccochi, are you there?"

"Nozomi, I had no one else to call. Something horrible just happened."

End of Chapter 7


	8. Chapter 8

Our Secret

Chapter 8

Nozomi and Nico

 **Note:** I hope you're all enjoying the story. This is another new story idea for me so I hope I'm not letting any of you down.

"Wait, what happened?" The whimpering continued to the point where Nozomi knew that something horrible was happening to her. "Niccochi, what's wrong? You can talk to me."

"I'm sorry. I'm being immature. I shouldn't be crying like this."

"Well, I don't even know why you're crying so I'm pretty sure you have a justifiable reason to do so."

"Can you… Would you be able to come over?"

"Of course. Don't go anywhere." She hung up the phone and got her things ready. After that, she ran down stairs and told her parents that she was going out. Once she was clear, she ran as fast as she could towards Nico's house. Unfortunately, she wasn't too close so it did take her a while, but when she arrived, she knocked on the door and Nico immediately opened up and fell into her arms. "Sorry, it took me so long."

"Sshhh. Can we just stay like this for a bit longer?" The two of them remained hugging until Nico finally calmed down. When she did, she walked Nozomi back up to her room where she did her best to tell her what was going on.

"So what's going on?"

"I don't know how to say it. I was on my way to Maki-chan's house when all of a sudden, a huge group of police and ambulance passed me on the road. I watched them as they made drew closer and closer to her house. As I got closer, I realized that they were at Maki-chan's house. I couldn't get too close, but I did see them wheel out three bodies. What am I supposed to do?" She started crying again.

"Well, it's not your fault. You don't need to make it seem like this is your fault."

"But I do. I told her that I would be at her house and I was running a little late. Maybe if I arrived on time… Maybe things would be different."

"You can't think like that. None of this is your fault."

"Isn't there anything that I can do?"

"I know this may sound bad, but no. I'm sure all Nishikino-san cares about now is that you loved her when she was here." Nico sniffled as she rubbed her puffy eyes. "Come here." Nozomi held her by the shoulders and hugged her. "You know I'm always here for you."

"I know. Thank you for coming."

As the room grew silent, Nozomi couldn't help but wonder what the cause of her death was, but that was when something interesting came to mind. Eli told her to be careful about there being another vampire in the area. That was the only thing she could think of since this area wasn't really known as a dangerous place to live. However, it all seemed to start when Eli killed that man that one night. That's when Nozomi started to grow suspicious about the whole thing. If Eli wouldn't have killed that man, would things have been different? Would these murders cease to exist?

"You know, I never say it enough, but I'm glad to call you my friend."

"Huh?"

"You're always there for her. I feel that things aren't the same when we turn the tables."

"What are you talking about? Whenever I need you, I'm sure you'll come around."

"I guess." They went silent yet again. It always felt like things were a little more awkward between them when they were outside of school. "Nozomi, I don't mean to sound selfish, but can I ask a favor of you?"

"Of course." Nico left her chest and stared her straight in the eyes. She gently put her hands on her cheeks and pressed her lips against hers. Nozomi was completely in shock by this action since the two of them were never actually like this. They never considered liking each other or even tried anything like that. And yet, here they were. Their lips against in each other, sharing their first kiss. "What… I have to go." Nozomi quickly grabbed her things and ran out of her house.

"Nozomi, wait." She tried sticking her out arm out, but it was already too late. She exited the house and ran back to hers. When she got home, she stormed up to her room and slammed the door behind her. She pressed her back against the door and slowly fell onto the ground.

"What the heck was that all about?" She pressed her fingers against her lips and immediately felt strange. "What is this feeling?"

…

The next day came around which meant the day of the party was here. Nozomi and her family woke up and finished up final preparations for the party. They set up decorations and made sure their house was spotless before they allowed people admittance into their house. It didn't take them very long to finish up preparing for the party. Right as it struck the middle of the day, they opened their doors and everyone from the area started to pile into their house.

They greeted everyone as they came walking through the door. Eli was the first of her friends to come. Her and her family welcomed her with bright smiles and warm handshakes. Nozomi invited her in and told her to relax. She couldn't really hang out with her until all of the housewarming steps were complete. More people walked in and eventually, Nico made it there too. When she got there, things were a little awkward since what happened last night was kind of left on bad terms.

"Hi Nozomi."

"Hi Niccochi. Come on inside and enjoy the party." They two gave each other a simple smile and went about to their own devices.

After most of the guests made it inside, the party started and everyone was free to go about on their own. Immediately, Nico pulled her to the side and tried to talk to her. Nozomi was a little hesitant at first since she didn't really understand why Nico would do that sort of thing.

"About yesterday, I wanted to say sorry. That was completely wrong of me to do that to you. I understand if you think I'm strange. I just want you to know that I'm sorry." She bowed her head and went silent.

"It's fine. We're friends after all," she said with a smile.

"Why are you so nice to me?"

"Because you're my oldest friend. All that we've gone through can't be naught. Today is about celebration. Let's just get over it and pretend like it never happened." Nico smiled back at her.

"That sounds good." Nozomi tried to walk back to the party, but Nico put in a few words that made her stop dead in her tracks. "So… That kiss meant nothing to you?" Her shots wide open as she started to tremble. That feeling from last night when she returned home was back. She didn't know what it was or why she was feeling this way. "Do you not feel anything when you think about it?" She was definitely thinking about it except that it was a feeling that she couldn't understand.

"I'm sorry, but there's someone else. I can't think of my one friend in that way." After that, Nozomi stormed off and left Nico behind, exactly the way it happened last night. When she returned to the living room, Eli was waiting all by herself. She saw Nozomi walking towards her with a sad look on her face. She walked over to her and asked her what was up. Before she could answer, she turned her head and saw Nico walk out of her house in silence.

"Hey, are you okay?" Nozomi was starting to fade. "How about I walk you to your room?" She threw Nozomi's arm over her shoulder and guided her up to her room. When they made it there, she set her down gently on her bed and sat down by her side. "Just rest a bit." Eli felt her head, but there was nothing wrong. It wasn't until Nozomi snatched her hand out of the air when things slowly returned to normal.

"Eli-chi, did you hear?"

"Hear about what?"

"There was another murder, and it was one of the girls from our school. My friend Nico found out about it yesterday. What's going on? Is there anything you can do to stop this?"

"I don't know. This may not even be the case of a vampire."

"Didn't you say your family looks into these kind of things?"

"Yeah, but…"

"But what?" Out of nowhere, Eli's cheeks started to turn red. Nozomi noticed this, but didn't really know how to respond to it.

"I don't know what's going on, but I can't let it happen to you too." At that moment, Nozomi knew what she was talking about. The memory of her first love was coming back to her in the form of the girl lying on that bed. Eli didn't want anything to happen to her even though Nozomi probably wasn't even the intended target. "I'm going to ask your parents if it's alright if you stayed with me for a bit."

…

Back at Nico's house, she was staring at her wall with all of her old pictures. In every single one of them, Nozomi was right beside her with a smile on her face. Back then was how she wanted things to be. Now, they were more strangers than ever before. She bowed her head and clenched her fist.

"Nozomi, why can't you see as the one? I've known you for so long. We know everything about each other. Why am I not special to you? And why is that girl the one who is special to you?"

End of Chapter 8


	9. Chapter 9

Our Secret

Chapter 9

Abnormal

The days went by and for some reason, Nozomi started to see less and less of Nico. Whenever she did see her, she gave her a simple smile and walked off. That smile was deceptive in that she couldn't really tell if Nico was mad at her or not. On the other hand, Eli was keeping a close eye on Nozomi just in case if anything bad happened. She was still a little paranoid about those murders and being too careful couldn't hurt.

As for Nozomi, things were alright; aside from Nico, that is. Her work in the student council was actually pretty fun. She got to see all of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into all of the events that their school held. She was also surprised at how incredible Eli was. This girl was so diligent. She rarely asked for Nozomi's help and whenever she did, it was for something a little kid could do. Other than that, her life was finally returning to normal. However, things like that don't last forever.

…

One day, Eli and Nozomi were walking to school when a particular conversation caught their attention. All of the girls were talking about another murder. It was obviously new because they were saying how it was someone from their student body. At that moment, Nozomi grew worried. It could have been Nico. She was close to the last one involving another student. She ran into the building without telling Eli. She barged in through the doors and looked around as frantically as she could.

"Nico! Nico, are you here?" As she turned her head frantically, someone came up behind her and touched her shoulder.

"Why are you being so loud? The day just started." It was Nico.

"Oh my gosh, I was so worried about you." Out of nowhere, Nozomi threw her arms around and squeezed her as tight as she could. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"I'm fine. What's with this smothering all of a sudden?"

"Well, it's because of what everyone's talking about."

"Oh, right. Don't worry. I'm smart enough to not go out at night or anything like that."

"I don't know, Niccochi. You can be quite an airhead sometimes. And going out at night isn't the problem here, dummy." Nico turned her head in disgust.

"Wow, thanks for that comment." Nozomi giggled. "Anyway… Are we okay?" Nozomi turned her head in confusion. "You know… During the party at your house. The question I asked you."

"Oh… Yeah, we're fine. Why wouldn't we be? We're best friends, right?"

"Yeah." For Nico, hearing the word "friend" was so upsetting for her. All of this time, Nozomi could have been hers, but she just wasn't out there enough for Nozomi to realize it. Now, there's a tall, beautiful blonde girl who Nozomi has her eyes on. No matter how she looked at it, there was no competition. Eli was just too perfect of a girl. Nico bowed her head and started to walk off. "I'm going to class."

"Okay, bye." Nozomi waved bye to her as Eli walked up behind her.

"What was that all about?"

"Nothing really. I just got to talk to my Niccochi again." Nozomi walked off to her class while Eli stayed in the entrance of the building for a few seconds longer.

Class was alright. All three of the third years were thinking about something, but none of them were thinking about the same thing. Nozomi wanted to know Nico was acting so strange. Nico wanted to know why Nozomi didn't see her that way even though she was so affectionate towards her. Eli was worried about the situation as a whole. She wanted to get down to the bottom of all of this, but she didn't even know where to start. Out of nowhere, Eli got this sudden pain in her head. She didn't know what it was, but she did know that she had to leave the classroom.

Right as class ended for lunch, Nozomi got up out of her chair and received an email. It was from Eli. "Can I talk to you in the student council room?" It was kind of random, but there was no need not to go there. She grabbed her lunch and headed up to the student council room. When she arrived, she opened the door and called out Eli's name. However, the room was empty. She looked around and saw that it was completely deserted.

"Hm, am I early?" She pulled out her phone to check to see if Eli didn't leave a time or anything, but at that moment, the door slid shut and Nozomi heard a lock behind her. She quickly turned around to see Eli in front of the door. Her head was down, but she could see those bright red eyes glowing in front of her. "Eli-chi, are you okay?" Eli slowly walked towards her, but this aura Nozomi was feeling was not like her usual self. "Hyah!" Eli tackled her to the ground and rammed her fangs into Nozomi's neck. "Ah, please stop."

Eli couldn't stop. All of this time she's been planning to protect Nozomi, she totally forgot about her own health. Blood is a huge necessity for vampires and Eli completely forgot about it until the very end. Nozomi continued to push her off, but Eli wouldn't budge. Her fangs continued to dig deeper in Nozomi's skin.

"Please… stop." Nozomi put her hand on her shoulder one last time to try and push her off, but the loss of blood was getting to her. Her hand fell on the floor as her vision started to blur. As that happened, Eli's eyes slowly turned back to their normal blue. She then realized what she was doing. She released Nozomi from her bite and shot back towards the door.

"Oh my God, did I just…" She looked at Nozomi who was barely conscious. "No… I didn't." She looked down at her hands and at that moment, a drop of blood fell on them. She wiped her mouth with her hand and saw blood covering her hand. "Oh no. Nozomi, can you hear me?" She couldn't really answer. She just moaned silently.

At that moment, Eli ran over to her and picked her up off the ground. She quickly wiped away the blood on her neck and carried her to the nurse's room as quickly as she could. When she got there, she laid her down on the bed as the nurse asked what had happened. Eli couldn't tell her the truth so that she suddenly fainted out of nowhere. The nurse felt Nozomi's skin and realized that she was quite cold. She then grabbed a towel, put it under hot water, and placed it on her forehead. She also turned off the A/C grabbed all the available blankets she could and placed them on top of Nozomi's body.

"Is… Is she going to be alright?"

"Thankfully, you got here when you did. Any later and her body may have shut down."

"What does that mean?"

"Don't worry about it. All you need to know is that she's safe. Just give her some time and I'm sure she'll come around."

…

Why do I feel so cold? Why does my neck hurt so much? Oh yeah, the strangest thing happened to me. Eli stole some of my blood from me. I don't know if "some" is the correct way to say it since I nearly died, but something like that did happen. So where am I now? My body's not really reacting to me right now. Am I safe? What happened to Eli? Hold on a second… What was that feeling just now? It was slightest bit of warmth coming from my hand. I did everything I could and eventually, I gained the strength to open my eyes.

Nozomi slowly opened her eyes. The ceiling was white and she was starting to feel the warmth return to her body. She turned her heads and saw curtains surrounding her. When she looked down, she saw Eli holding her hand with her head resting on the bed. Was that small bit of warmth coming from her? She slowly leaned forward which caused Eli to wake up.

"Nozomi, you're alright. Thank God." Eli leapt at her and threw her arms around her neck. "I was so worried about you."

"It's fine. I'm fine. You don't need to worry about it." Eli suddenly released her grip and sat back on her chair. She stared at the floor in silence.

"This is my fault. I did this to you. I'm sorry."

"No, no. This isn't your fault."

"Yes it is. I couldn't control myself and of all people, I did it to you… The person I care about most. The one person who knows my secret. If I would have killed you, I would have been seen as a monster who only lives to suck the blood of innocent people. I would have been a vampire." Nozomi sat there as she noticed Eli's body start to shake. A tear dropped from her eye for she couldn't hold it in any longer. "I thought I could protect you, but I was wrong. I would only hurt you more by being with you." At that moment, Eli stood up from her chair and tried running out of the room, but Nozomi's hand grabbed hers before she could.

"You'll never hurt me." Nozomi could see the pain in Eli's eyes as she spoke those words. "You know why?" Eli immediately avoided eye contact with her. At that moment, Nozomi pulled her arm until her face was right in front of hers. "Because I love you." Nozomi pressed her lips against Eli's as they shared a kiss.

Just outside the nurse's room, Nico saw their kiss and stormed off in anger.

"That bitch."

End of Chapter 9


	10. Chapter 10

Our Secret

Chapter 10

Another Vampire

The town was bustling like it always is. Nothing could possibly brake the flow of traffic.

"Hey there, cutie." One of the guys in a business suit was called over by a small girl in a very cute outfit. "You wanna bang me right here, right now." Without wasting anytime, the man followed her into the alleyway. Once he passed the corner, she sat up on a couple of boxes and spread out her legs. "Damn, this is you lucky day." She started to unbutton her shirt and that's when the man lost all focus in what he was doing. At the same time, the girl reverted her tactics. Her eyes turned red and fangs appeared in her mouth. She suddenly leapt at him and sucked out all of his blood. He tried screaming out for help, but the girl covered his mouth and made sure that they were in a secluded place. Once the deed was done, she cleaned herself up and thank him for the meal.

After that, she left him on the ground for everyone passing by to see.

…

The school days were always long and there were always a few students that stayed late doing various things. Once the activities were over, they packed their things and headed home. However, there was one girl that was all by herself.

"Hey, are you walking home alone?"

"Yeah."

"Me too. You wanna walk together?"

"Sure."

"Which way are you heading?" The girl pointed west. "Hey, I'm heading that direction too. Let's go." The two of them smiled and headed off together.

Once the sun was clear of the horizon and orange light was all that was left to see, the girl took her a different path and told her that it was a shortcut around the business district. When they got out of sight, she tackled the girl to the ground and sucked her blood. There was nothing she could since she was all by herself with no one around so she too shared the fate of that man in the city. Meanwhile, the other girl did the same thing. She cleaned herself up and thanked her for the meal.

After that, she left her on the ground for everyone passing by to see.

…

It was monsoon season and no one dared go outside. Unfortunately, there were a few people who commuted to work by foot or the occasional students that would be daring and brag to their friends. One of these students was walking down the street as cool as could be when he noticed a girl on the side of the street cuddled up in a ball. He walked over to her and knelt down in front of her.

"Hey, are you okay?" She sniffled a few times before looking up and answering him.

"I didn't listen to my older sister and I ran off on my own. Now, I don't know where she is and I can't find my way home."

"Oh, well, I can try to help you out. I know this area pretty well. Do you know any landmarks that are close to your house?" She wiped her eyes and looked around.

"I think it's somewhere around that park right there."

"Alright, stand up. Let's go try it out." He stuck out his hand and the girl took it politely. She looked around and no one was around. Once they got into the park, she tackled him to the ground and dragged him into cover. That's when she revealed her fangs and dug them into his neck. He tried fighting back, but she was just too strong. After a few seconds, he quickly lost strength from the extreme loss of blood. She cleaned herself and thanked him for the meal.

After that, she left his body there for everyone to see.

…

It was finally the weekend and Nozomi decided to sleep in for a bit. She still couldn't really wrap her head around staying at Eli's house, but Eli wasn't treated it like some strange thing so she had to respect that and act herself too. Once her urge to sleep was satisfied, she climbed out of bed and stretched out her body. She looked over to Eli's bed and saw that she wasn't there. I guess that's what you'd expect from the Student Council President. She got on her feet and walked down to the living room.

"Good morning Eli-chi." There was no response. When she looked inside the living room, she saw that Eli was standing in front of the TV, intensively watching whatever was on. Nozomi quickly made her way next to her to see what was up.

"In latest news, yet another body has been found in some area of the city. No one has been able to figure who the murderer is, but detectives have found that each victim was killed in the same way. A peculiar weapon that stabs the victim in the neck. Other than that, we can't say anymore. We'll provide you with more information as we get it, but this makes 3 deaths in the span of just one week. For more information, you can go to our website to stay up-to-date." The news suddenly went to advertisements. The living room was completely silent.

"So… What does that mean?"

"I… I don't really know, but we can't be rash about this. My parents should be returning soon so they'll be able to find out what is going on. Until then, I think it best to stay here until they come back."

"Until who comes back?"

"Momma! Poppa!" Eli's little sister jumped form the second floor and jumped into their arms. "I thought you weren't coming back for another week."

"We were, but when we heard things were going on around here, we couldn't leave our daughters to fend for themselves."

"Excuse me, but we can handle things just fine by ourselves."

"So I see." At that moment, her father turned his head and focused all of his attention on Nozomi. "Oh, and who might this be?"

"Oh, this is…" Before she could finished her sentence, her father appeared right in front of Nozomi in the blink of an eye. He lowered his head and got a good whiff of Nozomi's scent. Meanwhile, Nozomi had no idea of what to do so she just stood there as solid as a rock. "She's not a vampire, and yet she's in our house."

"About that. It has to do with the things that are going around here."

"You wanna explain that for me please," he asked while still keeping his attention on Nozomi.

"There have been several murders in the past month and they're all related with a signature death mark. To me, it looks like a vampire, but…"

"But you shouldn't presume things. Your mother and I will look into this. Meanwhile, do you have a name, young lady?"

"N-Nozomi. Toujou Nozomi," she said nervously.

"Nozomi. You know, you kind of look like- Ugah!" Eli suddenly elbowed him the gut and that made him stop where he was. "Excuse me. That was a slip of the tongue. Well Nozomi," he grabbed her hand and kissed as if he was in the Middle Ages, "it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance.

"Alright, that's enough of the formalities. Hi, I'm Eli's mother. Ignore this old man, he acts like he's living in the past all of the time."

"Excuse me for loving the glory days." Nozomi was speechless. She just watched her family settle in. Out of nowhere, Eli grabbed her hand which caused Nozomi to look at her in surprise.

"Don't mind them. Once you know them, they're pretty normal… aside from the obvious." This one comment managed to calm Nozomi down a bit as her mother called them for some breakfast.

End of Chapter 10


	11. Chapter 11

Our Secret

Chapter 11

The Events that Keep Happening

 **Note:** The story's coming to an end. I hope you're all enjoying it and I hope you enjoy this chapter update. Sorry to those who read this a while ago. I messed up on the uploading process.

Right as Nozomi was about to join them for some breakfast, her phone buzzed which caused her to check it. It was from her parents. They were wondering if she was going to come back any time soon. She didn't really know how serious this was so she stepped out and called them.

"Hi mom."

"Hi Nozomi, are you still with Ayase-chan?"

"Yeah, are you guys worried about me? Because if you are, I can come home. I think we're about done with what we were doing."

"That's up to you. We trust that you're responsible enough to do these things on your own. It's just nice hearing your voice again. I love you sweety."

"I love you too. I promise I'll come home soon." They hung up and went back to their things. Nozomi walked back inside of the house where Eli's family was waiting for her.

"Nozomi-chan, would you like to join us?"

"As great as that sounds, I'm thinking about heading home."

"Aw, do stay… At least have some breakfast before you go." She looked at the table and couldn't help but be attracted to the food. It all looked good and the smell was filling her nose.

"Well, I guess I could stay for a bit longer." Eli walked over to her and guided her to the table where they all had a great time sharing whatever they wanted to share.

Once they finished up with breakfast, Nozomi packed up her things and was about to head out the door when she was stopped by Eli's father. He said that he was interested in meeting her family since he's never actually been close to a human being that he didn't feel the need to kill. Since this was such a stressful situation, she quickly agreed and showed them to her house. As they followed her, Nozomi couldn't really find the words. On the other hand, Eli's family couldn't stop talking. They constantly asked her about her life and what it was like being human. These questions were so strange that she could barely answer them with a straight mind.

It felt like time went on forever, but they eventually made it to Nozomi's house. When she stepped towards the door, she immediately noticed something was off. The lock was busted. At the same time, Eli's father started to act in a completely different fashion than how he's been during their walk. She knew something was up. Without wasting anymore time, Nozomi barged through the door and ran into the house. Right as she made it into the living room, her suspicions were realized.

"Nozomi, get down!" Out of nowhere, Eli tackled her to the ground and scanned the area. Her mother and father zoomed into the building and started to sniff the air for any clues.

"Mother! Father! Nnnooooo!" Eli did her best to hold Nozomi. Tears started to escape her eyes as Eli wrapped her arms around her and held her close.

"Eli, get her back to the house. Now." At that moment, Eli picked her up off the ground and carried her home. Meanwhile, her parents and her sister checked the entire house.

The entire run back, Nozomi was screaming out in pain. Eli did her best to try and console her, but nothing seemed to work. Her tears continued to fall and her voice was getting rougher and rougher. When they finally made it home, Eli locked the door behind her and took her up to her room. She tried setting her down on her bed, but Nozomi did the complete opposite. She threw her arms around Eli and didn't let go. With Nozomi's arms wrapped around her, she could feel her warmth irradiating from her body. This was such a unique experience for Eli that she had to take in the moment. She kept her arms around Nozomi and tried to calm her down.

"It's alright. Nobody's going to hurt you. I'm here. You're safe now." Nozomi's body was whimpering like crazy. Eli continued to speak some more words, but Nozomi just didn't seem to calm down.

"Why?!"

"I know, it's hard. I've gone through this when I lost her. That pain of seeing the person you love being taken away from you. The realization of never being able to be with them again. It's hard. Let out your tears. Don't hide them. I did the same and I've never been able to forget it. I'm so sorry." Nozomi gripped the back of Eli's shirt as tight as she could as the tears slowly came to a stop. Her body slowly relaxed which made Eli ease up on her grip.

"You lost someone too. I'm sorry. I don't think I told you that when you talked about it."

"It's fine. I can't spend my time thinking about what was. It's more important to stay in the now. Just keeping that locked away in the back of my mind is good enough."

"Who… Who would do something like this?"

"I don't know. I just hope my parents can find something out."

"Eli-chi, can you… Can you stay with me tonight?"

"Of course." Eli climbed onto the bed and held Nozomi in her arms. As this happened, Nozomi only just noticed how cold Eli truly was. It's basic knowledge that vampires are cold-blooded, but this feeling was just so strange to her. However, she didn't really feel that cold. She searched as hard as she could for some warmth that Eli was giving off and she finally found it. It was incredibly small, but it was simply from her being next to her like this. That was all that Nozomi could ask for.

Day turned to night as Eli stayed by Nozomi's side the entire time. Her exhaustion finally allowed her to fall asleep. It wasn't until a while later when her parents returned from the scene. They quietly entered Eli's room and asked to speak to her in private. With as much stealth as she could, she climbed out of bed and followed her parents downstairs. The two of them were silent which meant that this was going to be bad news.

"What happened? Did you figure anything out?"

"I'd hate to say it, but there is a rogue vampire around here." Eli's eyes suddenly widened.

"So what should we do?"

"Normally, I wouldn't try to intervene, but because they killed Nozomi's parents, I feel obligated to find out who this person is and stop them." Eli nodded vigorously. "How is she doing, by the way?"

"Not too bad. She managed to fall asleep, but it's definitely taking a toll on her body."

"Completely understandable. Death isn't something to take lightly. You, of all people, should understand that," he said while looking right into Eli's eyes. "Thankfully, whoever this person is, they're not very smart. They left their scent on her parents' clothes." He handed her the small sheet of cloth. Eli took it from him and smelt it.

"So I'm guessing this was all that was left."

"Aside from this, they were pretty thorough in their execution." Eli took in one more, long sniff and clenched her fists.

"I swear, I'm going to kill whoever is behind this." At that moment, Eli's eyes started to turn bright red. However, her father put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a good squeeze.

"I understand your hatred, but we can't let our emotions get the better of us. Once we figure out who did this, we'll work it through strategically so that no one else gets hurt. Understood?" Eli breathed in and out a few more times before returning to her normal state.

"Understood."

"Nnoooo!"

"Nozomi." Eli turned around as fast as she could and ran up the stairs, back to her room. "Nozomi, I'm here. It's alright." She took Nozomi into her arms once again and tried to console her. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"Mhmm."

"It's fine now. You're safe. I won't let anything hurt you."

…

That same girl, who was behind all of the killings, was on top of a nearby roof enjoying the scene. A smile appeared on her face as blood ran down from her mouth.

"It appears I've attracted some unwanted attention. I should probably lay low for a while… Just to be safe." After that, she disappeared into the darkness of the night.

End of Chapter 11


	12. Chapter 12

Our Secret

Chapter 12

The Mysterious Moon

 **Note:** Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you know that I recently hit 10k views in a month. Thank you to everyone who's been sticking with me this entire time. I couldn't have done it without you all. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the update.

When the next morning came around, Nozomi woke up like she always did. She turned her head to say good morning to Eli, but when she did, she wasn't there. She looked around the room and noticed that she wasn't in there. When she walked out of the room and into the living room, she noticed that she wasn't there either. At that moment, she could tell that there was something off. The entire house was silent which only made her wonder what was happening. As she attempted to find out what, she heard some banging come from the other end of the house.

She walked to the sound and it lead her to a strange door. There was a sign on it that read, "Do Not Enter." She didn't want to disobey the sign, but that was where all of the sound was coming from and no one else seemed to be around so she opened it up as it lead her down to a basement. Once she got there, she saw Eli and her family doing some strange things and couldn't stay quiet about it.

"What's going on?" They all turned around at the sound of her voice and Eli ran over to her and covered her eyes.

"Didn't you read the sign? It told you not to come down."

"I'm sorry. It just sounded like something was happening down here."

"That doesn't make it alright to come down alone without a clue of what I could be." Eli tried pushing her back up the stairs when her father's voice popped out of nowhere.

"You might as well tell her now or else it could be too late." At that moment, Nozomi's eyes shot wide open.

"Too late? What does he mean by that?" Eli sighed and let go of Nozomi's body.

"Every year, something happens to vampires that we have absolutely no control. Even the strongest can't control themselves." She bowed her head and took a deep breath. "Every year, there is a point when the Earth is the furthest from the sun. That same day, the moon is also the furthest from the planet as well as the sun. That day is today. For reasons we can't explain, vampires lose control of themselves and go berserk. This is why we're doing this. We're preventing us from killing innocent people. We chain ourselves up in our basement and wait until the sun rises on another day." Nozomi brought her hand up to her face as she just saw something horrible.

"Are you going to be okay?" From behind, the rest of Eli's family started to laugh.

"Of course we'll be fine. It's not like we're going to die. There's no physical strain on us. It's just something that causes us to lose who we are for one night."

"Wait, if this happens once every year. How do you guys get out?"

"We've always asked our neighbors. Once we knew they were good people, we allowed them to know our secret and they've done anything or said anything about us. We're thankful for them, but since you're with us… I, personally, was wondering if you could come for us in the morning." This request caught Nozomi off guard.

"Um, I don't know. This seems so sudden. I don't know if I can handle something like this." Eli grabbed Nozomi's hands and looked her in the eye.

"I know you can do this. I trust you. We all trust you."

"Don't worry so much, Nozomi-chan. All we ask is that you come get us tomorrow morning. Once when the sun rises tomorrow, everything will be alright. I give you my word." Nozomi looked over Eli's shoulder and saw her father with his right hand in the air.

"See?" Nozomi was still a little iffy about this whole thing, but she eventually gave in. "Thank you so much, Nozomi." Eli wrapped her arms around her and gave her a hug. "Now, I know the day is still young, but I suggest you go somewhere else. I don't think you want to be here when it becomes nighttime."

"Okay, where should I go?"

"Some place where you know you can be safe. With all of this news going around about that other vampire, you have to be extra careful." She looked at Eli's father and nodded. "Now get out of here. I don't like that you're down here for four vampires."

"I'm sorry. I will be on my way." Nozomi tried to make her way up the stairs, but something held her back. From behind, Eli grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards her. As she fell backwards, their lips met which totally caught Nozomi off guard.

"Be safe."

"I will." They bid each other goodbye and went their separate ways. As Nozomi left the house, there was something that was bothering her… That kiss, there was something different about it. Normally, Eli was cold for obvious reasons, but Nozomi was always able to find some hint of warmth from her body. Unfortunately, there was no sign of that this time. She was as cold as ice and knew that tonight was going to be something she wouldn't want to witness.

With Eli and her family in the foreground of her thoughts, she found herself wandering through town without a true purpose. She was thinking about what could possibly happen to them when night came. She also realized that it was probably unsafe for her to be out past sunset so she was forced to think of some place to stay. She didn't really have money on her so staying at some cheap motel was out of the question. Her home was unsafe since that unknown vampire managed to get to her parents while she was away. The only place left that she could think of was Nico's house. Unfortunately, the two of them have been kind of distant so she was unsure of whether Nico would be willing to take her in for the night. Regardless, she decided that that was her best bet. When she arrived at Nico's place, she knocked on the door and patiently waited as the sun was starting to reach the horizon.

"Nozomi, what are you doing here?"

"Hi Niccochi, I know this is sudden, but I was wondering if I spend the night here?" Nico gave her a weird look.

"That is kind of sudden. When was the last time we did something like this?"

"I know. My parents are… They're out of town and I didn't feel like staying home by my side."

"What about Eli-chan?"

"She's… She's doing something with her family and didn't want to intrude."

"So you're saying that I'm your last resort?"

"Not at all. It's just that all of this came up so suddenly that I didn't have any time to plan for this. I'm sorry. I don't mean to be mean. I'm sorry," she said as she bowed to Nico. Meanwhile, Nico looked out to the horizon and saw that it was quickly turning night.

"I guess it's fine since the day's pretty much gone. Get inside."

"Thank you so much, Niccochi. I promise I'll pay you back somehow."

"Don't worry about it. You're always like this. Just let it go and allow your friends to do something nice. That's you problem." All Nozomi could do was smile and laugh. This was so true, but she was just glad that she found some place for safe for the night.

For the rest of the night, Nozomi and Nico tried their best to lessen the awkwardness between them. They didn't bring up anything about their personal lives. They just kept things to small talk and managed not to screw anything up. When it got late, Nico prepared another futon for Nozomi and the two of them fell asleep. Nozomi was slow at first, but eventually fell asleep. On the other hand, Nico had a hard night. There was something keeping her awake. It was Nozomi and everything to do with her. There was also something else, but she couldn't really put her finger on it.

End of Chapter 12


	13. Chapter 13

Our Secret

Chapter 13

The Nightmare is Over

Nozomi heard screaming and crying from all over. She looked around her and saw people being killed by vampires. All of them were digging their fangs into their necks and there was no way she could do anything. Against vampires, she couldn't stand a chance, especially since she still had blood flowing through her veins. She tried looking around for Eli, but when she found her, her eyes were glowing red as she slowly made her way towards Nozomi.

"Elicchi, it's me. You know, right?" She didn't respond. She just drew closer to Nozomi until she tripped and fell onto her butt. At that moment, Eli lunged right at her and bit right into her neck. "Elicchi, please," she said softly. Unfortunately, it was useless. She was quickly starting to lose consciousness. "Eli…cchi…"

…

Nozomi shot up from the futon in shock. Her hair was a mess and she couldn't help but feel a chill running through her body. She looked around the room and saw that she was at Nico's place. That's when she realized that it was all a dream. She then fell onto her back and threw her arm over her eyes.

"Ugh, what a horrible dream. No, that was a nightmare. What the heck?" The sound of her voice managed to wake up Nico was close by.

"Ugh, good morning."

"Good morning Nicocchi." Nozomi looked at her and saw the clock right behind her. it was already 9am, way past sunrise.

"Sorry, but I have to go."

"Go? But didn't you just wake up?"

"Yeah, but I forgot that I have something to do today. Thank you for letting me stay here. I promise to pay you back."

"I thought I…" Nico couldn't finish her sentence since Nozomi already made it out of her apartment. She got out of bed and walked over to her window where she was able to see Nozomi run off to. From the looks of it, it appeared as though she was on her way to Eli's house. She immediately shut the blinds and stormed towards the bathroom. "Why?!"

…

When she arrived at Eli's house, she opened the door and looked around. Nothing looked to be out of its place so she was immediately soothed by this sight. The only thing left to confirm was Eli and her family. She walked over to the door in the back of the house and headed down to the basement. Right as she got there, she noticed something strange.

"Good morning." They all had smiles on their faces as if they were the sweetest family on the planet. The weird thing was that their clothes looked like they had worn them for months. Aside from the father, their hair was a mess which could only mean that last night was something else.

"G-Good morning."

"There's nothing to be afraid of. I promise that we're back to normal." Even though those words came out of Eli, Nozomi was a little hesitant in freeing them. "Nozomi? Are you okay?"

"Are you guys okay? I don't know why, but I'm a little afraid of what might happen."

"Nozomi-chan, I can guarantee that nothing will happen to you if you let us out. The key is underneath the stairs." She turned around and walked to where the key was. Once she found it, she brought back to them and gave it one last thought.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what I'm thinking." With those words, she unlocked Eli and the rest of her family. As promised, no harm came to Nozomi. They just gave her a hug and thanked her for her help. After that, they headed upstairs and prepared some breakfast.

Meanwhile, Nozomi was a little slow. Ever since the morning started, she had been feeling a little strange. Most of it was from her nightmare that she had. She didn't even know why that happened. Eli would never do something like that to her. She made a promise to protect her. And yet, something like that happened in a dream. It was just so weird. Her weird behavior definitely showed which made Eli take notice of it.

"Nozomi, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Did you find some place safe to stay last night?" She nodded her head with little expression on her face. "Here, let's head up to my room. I'm sure all of this vampire stuff is weighing you down." She took her hand and guided her back up to her room. When they got there, Eli sat Nozomi down on her bed and took a seat on the floor. "I hope I didn't make you worry. I'm fine."

"I know. I'm sorry for making you think that way. I trust you know what you're doing. It's just…" Nozomi reached for her neck as she felt the morning twinge, but as she did, Eli noticed something strange.

"What is that?"

"What is what?" Eli jumped at her and examined her neck to what appeared to be a bite mark.

"Nozomi, I thought you said you were safe last night."

"I was safe."

"Then why do you have a bite mark on your neck?" At that moment, Nozomi's eyes shot open as she jumped off the bed and went to the mirror in the room. She tried her best to see what Eli was talking and found out that there was a bite mark on her neck. "Where did you stay last night?"

"I was Nicocchi's place, but there's no way she would do something like this." Eli wasn't having any of this from her.

"So what are you saying? Another vampire just happened to breach into her apartment and suck some of your blood."

"No, it's just that I know Nicocchi. She's not a vampire and she doesn't know anyone like that. Why are you getting so angry?"

"I'm not angry. I just want to know what happened. This could be the same person who's been killing all of those people."

"Elicchi, trust me. I'm fine."

"That doesn't matter. You never know if this could be the start of something?"

"What are you talking about?"

"It's obvious that whoever is out there, they're targeting you. I don't know why they had to kill all of those people or maybe it's not even the same person. I just don't want you in danger." At that moment, Eli dropped her head onto Nozomi's shoulders and wrapped her arm around her body. "I just… I can't lose you too."

"Elicchi, is that what this is all about?"

"I know it may sound selfish, but I can't lose anyone else that I care about. Being immortal entitles me to many things. One of those is having to bear the pain of everyone I've lost. I can never forget about it no matter how much I try. I know I said that I use that to make me a better person, but deep down, it hurts, regardless.

"Elicchi?"

"I'm sorry for throwing all of this on you."

"No, it's fine. I actually wanted to ask you something. It may be a little personal so I don't know if I have permission to ask this of you."

"No, go ahead."

"Alright. How did you become a vampire?"

"I didn't become one. My parents were actually turned into vampires and that's how the cycle started."

"Do you ever wish you weren't a vampire?" Eli squeezed her even tighter.

"Every day of my life. There are so many things I wish I could do. I want to comfort someone and know that they'll be safe and secure with me. I want to love someone and eventually be with them in our passing. I want to have a kiss and have the other person feel my warmth. Being a vampire is a lot harder than you think." A tear suddenly escaped her eye and fell onto Nozomi's shoulder.

"Elicchi, I promise. I will do everything in my power to make sure that this life of your will be something worth living for. I know I won't be able to…" Eli suddenly got off of her shoulder and pressed her hand against Nozomi's mouth.

"Please don't say it. I don't think I can handle that right now."

"I'm sorry."

"Nozomi, can I ask something of you?"

"Of course."

"Can you kiss me?"

"Kiss you?"

"Please. I want to feel your warmth. All of this time, I've been the one to kiss you and I just haven't…" At that moment, Nozomi stole a kiss from her lips which totally caught Eli off guard. However, she couldn't complain about it all. Nozomi's warmth traveled through her entire body and made her feel so weak.

So warm. I haven't felt this way ever since… Her.

End of Chapter 13


	14. Chapter 14

Our Secret

Chapter 14

The Other Vampire Revealed

 **Note:** Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you know that this story is coming to an end soon. I'm trying to give everyone a schedule of my stories, but right now, I don't know how much more there will be so just be sure to stick around for more news. With regards to the story, I hope you're all enjoying it and I hope to hear back about how I'm doing.

After that interesting moment with Eli and Nozomi, the two of them starting to act a lot closer to each other. They avoided the lovey-dovey stuff, but Nozomi was able to act more like herself around her. At the same time, Eli was able to be more relaxed around her. Of course, the urge to drink her blood was always present, but she was able to suppress that urge.

As all of this happened, Nico started to become distant in exponential ways. Nozomi rarely saw her during the day and when she did, Nico didn't even acknowledge. Nozomi's love for Eli was evident and it was affecting her relationship with Nico. Unfortunately, Nozomi didn't actually realize this. It was just Nico that felt the pain of being rejected by the person she wanted to be with.

One day as Eli and Nozomi were walking to school together, Nozomi spotted Nico walking through the school gate and had to catch up with her.

"Niccochi, there you are. I've been wondering where you've been. Are you okay? Did you get sick or something?"

"I'm fine. Why do you care so much?"

"Why do you ask things like that? I'm your best friend, aren't I?"

"Oh, are you?" At that moment, Nozomi felt Nico's abrasiveness towards her, but couldn't let it go. She had to do something. She wasn't going to let their relationship worsen because of something she didn't even understand.

"Niccochi, please tell me what's wrong. I've obviously done something wrong. If you can tell me what I did, I would really appreciate it." Nico turned her head with every intention of not answering. "You have lunch together. Would that ease things over a little?" Nico turned her head back the other way and looked right at her.

"Under the cherry blossom trees… and don't be late." After that, she stormed off with such attitude that no one else messed with her.

"Hey, is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Are you sure? If there's something wrong, you can always talk to me."

"I'm fine. Now come on, we should get to class."

When they got to class, they took their seats and waited for their teacher to start. Once class started, Nozomi directed most of her attention to Nico. She didn't turn around once and it seemed as if she was actually paying attention in class for once. Even though she didn't think much about it, Nozomi knew that there was something that was different about Nico. She wasn't her usually self that was always smiling and giving off a cheerful aura. It was like that side of her was stolen away. However, that's what Nozomi was determined to fix during lunch time. She was guilty of not spending a lot of time with Nico so she had to think of the right things to say in order to smooth things out between them.

Once morning classes were over, Nozomi packed up her things and headed to the place where Nico wanted to meet. On the way, she ran into Eli who was wondering if they were going to have lunch. That's when Nozomi had to tell her that she had other plans. Eli didn't really mind, but she was a little nosey about who she was going with. Nozomi had to reassure her that it was Nico. After that, they parted ways and started their lunch.

"So Nico, what's wrong?" Nico was silent in the beginning. She wasn't really sure how to answer or if she should answer her at all.

"How do you not know by now?"

"What are you talking about?"

"This is all you fault." Nozomi was starting to feel like she was being attacked.

"How?"

"You just had to try and talk to the most popular girl in school. And because of it, you've totally forgotten about us."

"No I haven't. We're having lunch right now, aren't we?"

"That's only because I had to force it onto you. If it was up to you, you wouldn't have given me a second thought."

"Niccochi, I…"

"I've loved you for so long. I was just too afraid to ruin what we had. When I saw you with Eli, it made me jealous. It made me think that that could have been me. We used to always be together, but now, it's almost as if I don't even know you."

"We'll always be friends. You know that, don't you?"

"No, I don't. It's obvious now that Eli has become a big part of your life. I think it's best that I don't intrude on that so I won't try anymore." Nico stood up and turned her back to Nozomi. "I'm sorry for all of the things I've done for you. I just wanted to be with you Nozomi." Without saying anything else, she walked off in silence and all Nozomi could do was watch.

Once lunch came to an end, Nozomi quietly walked back to class. When she got inside, she looked around and noticed that Nico wasn't even there. This trouble between the two of them was definitely something big. Nozomi just couldn't believe that Nico cared this much for her. All of this time, it didn't even seem like it. She eventually took her seat and slammed her head on her desk. Eli walked by and noticed Nozomi's boggy aura and had to intervene.

"Hey, are you okay? Is your stomach hurting or something?"

"No, it's not that."

"Then what is it?"

"It's nothing. I'm just tired right now."

"Should I take you to the nurse's office?"

"It's fine. I'll be able to make through the rest of the day."

Just as she said, Nozomi muscled through the entire day, completely unable to think of anything besides from Nico. Nico was her oldest friend, but it felt as if she lost her forever because of her own ignorance. Although Nico stated the extent of their friendship, Nozomi felt like there was still some things left up for discussion. That's when she had the bright idea to visit Nico after school to clear everything no matter what. Nico was a stubborn girl, but Nozomi knew how to get her way with her. At the end of afternoon classes, Nozomi headed to the exit when she met up with Eli.

"You ready to go home?"

"I still have to get my shoes, but I was actually going to visit Niccochi since she didn't come back after lunch."

"Oh, you want me to come with you?"

"No, I think it would be better for me to go alone."

"Are you sure? I still don't think that that's a good idea."

"Elicchi, I'll be fine. You can go on ahead of me." Nozomi pushed her out the door and waved goodbye. Once she was out of sight, she reached inside of her locker to grab her shoes when a note fell from the locker. Nozomi picked it up and opened it to see familiar handwriting.

 _Nozomi,_

 _There's something else I want to talk to you about. Could you meet me in the back of the school once school is over? I think this will make things clear between us. –Nico_

She couldn't believe it. Nico felt the same way even though she made it seem like they were finished as friends. She couldn't grabbed her things and made her way to the back of the school. Once she got there, she called out Nico's name, but there was no response. She looked around in hopes that she was somewhere else, but she wasn't. Once she scanned the entire area, she had the idea that maybe Nico was just lying about the whole thing. Maybe not showing up meant that their friendship was over. Right as she was about to leave, something hit her on the back of the head which caused her to lose consciousness and collapse to the ground. No one was around to see what had happened.

An hour, Nozomi finally regained her consciousness. Her eyes slowly cracked open and noticed that she was in a big, dark room. She looked around, but no one was there. She called out for anyone to come out, but there was no response. She tried standing up, but quickly noticed that her legs were chained up and her arms were chained up to a column right behind her.

"Someone, please help! I can't get out!"

"Haha." Suddenly, there was a laugh coming from the darkness of the room. Nozomi looked around, but they still hadn't revealed themselves.

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?"

"Oh Nozomi, I'm sorry that it had to come down to this." She suddenly widened her eyes as that voice started to sound familiar.

"Please don't tell me…" Out of the darkness, the strange person finally revealed themselves. It was Nico.

End of Chapter 14


	15. Chapter 15

Our Secret

Chapter 15

Danger of the Unknown

"Nicocchi, what are you doing here? What am I doing here? Are you the one behind this? Why?"

"Jeez Nozomi, what's with all of the questions? I'll get to all of them eventually. I just thought that it would be great for us to spend some time together." Nozomi suddenly widened her eyes.

"Wait, is this what this is all about? Me not spending enough time with you. If so, I'm so sorry."

"There's no need to worry about that. I'm completely over that. I just need to talk to you in private and I can't have any interruptions while I do so." For some reason, Nozomi was starting to get a weird feeling in her chest. There was something different about Nico, but she couldn't really put her finger on it. "So, how are you today?" Nozomi was nervous in answering since she knew that something was up.

"Why don't you just get to the point? You can yell at me all you want. I think I understand what this is all about." Nico smiled to herself.

"Haha, Nozomi, you're so cute. You're trying to stay calm when you have absolutely no idea what is actually happening."

"Why are you doing this? At least answer that for me."

"Like I said, I'll get to your questions." Nico suddenly knelt down in front of her and got a good whiff of her smell. That's when Nozomi started to panic a bit. This was strange behavior for anyone, but she knew that asking questions wasn't going to get her anywhere. She simply turned her head and avoided eye contact with her. Not before too long, a soft buzzing sound came from Nozomi's bag that was across the way.

"Nicocchi, please stop this. That's probably Elicchi who's worried about where I am. I told her that I would be back shortly."

"Oh, it's Eli." Nico turned around and walked over to Nozomi's bag where she pulled out her phone to confirm that it was Eli. "Wow, you know her well. How about you answer this?"

"Well, I can't really do that when my arms are tied."

"Oh don't worry. I'll hold the phone. Just worry about talking. However, don't even think of telling her anything about what's actually happening." Nico's looked turned serious which made Nozomi change her initial plan of telling Eli about her little situation. Nico answered the call and put it on speaker phone.

"Hello."

"Nozomi, where are you? Are you still hanging out with Nico?"

"Yeah, I think it may take a while so don't worry about me. Nico and I are close so…"

"Yeah, Nozomi and I are extremely close." Nico stood up and walked the phone away from Nozomi. "You don't need to worry about us. We're just having a great time over here. Actually, there's been something on my mind that I've been wanting to tell you for the longest time. Now that we're all talking to each other, I might as well say it now." Nico turned around and knelt down in front of Nozomi once again. "Nozomi is mine and you're in the way. Nozomi and I have talked about it and we agreed that you're a bother. So with that being said, you should just leave us alone. Right Nozomi?" She held the phone closer to her and waited for her response.

"Elicchi, please help me! She has me locked away in…" Nico suddenly put her hand over her mouth and brought the phone back closer to herself. As that happened, Nozomi noticed that Nico's hand was extremely cold.

"Oh Nozomi, why did you have to do that? This could have remained peaceful."

"Nico, what's going on over there? No jokes. Why was Nozomi screaming and what did you mean by that last thing?"

"Haha. You know, this whole thing has been really funny. I wanted it to go one way, but because of you, nothing was ever able to return to the path I wanted. Now, you'll have to face the music of the matter. Let's see if you can stop this." At that moment, two large fangs erupted out of Nico's mouth and Nozomi finally realized what this all meant. Nico then jammed her fangs into Nozomi's neck which caused her to scream out in pain.

"Aahhh! Elicchi, please!"

"Nozomi! Stop this now! Why are you doing this?!" After a few seconds, Nico retracted her fangs and let the blood roll down her face. She watched the blood from Nozomi's neck slowly escape her body and chuckled.

"Mmm, that tasted so good. I can see why you've kept this girl all to yourself. But now, it's my turn. By the time you find us, it'll already be too late." She threw the phone on the ground and crushed it with her shoe.

"Nozomi. Nozomi!" Eli pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at it to see the call was disconnected. She immediately ran out of her room and looked around. Unfortunately, her family was out so there was no way she could rely on them for this. Also, she was short on time since Nico sounded serious and the mystery of that unknown vampire was finally revealed. She couldn't believe that it was someone who was right under her nose this entire time. However, she didn't put a lot of thought into since this wasn't the time to be thinking. She had to find Nozomi and fast. The only problem was that she didn't really know where to start. The only thing she could go off of was Nico's house. She ran in that direction and started her search.

When she arrived at Nico's apartment, she immediately bashed down the door and called out Nozomi's name. There was no response. She then looked around the apartment as thoroughly as she could, but there was absolutely no sign of them being there. That was the one thing she was afraid of. Now, she had nothing to go off of. Nozomi didn't give her a lot of information of meeting Nico after school and since this was the only other place they could be, she was stuck. The thought of losing Nozomi now was just too much. She couldn't give up. She decided to go to school since that was the last time she saw her before they separated.

When she got to the school, things were already locked up, but that didn't stop her. She jumped the front gate and walked through the building entrance. Nozomi's shoe locker was open and that was where she started first. She looked inside and around it, but there was nothing that told her anything. After that, she went to the popular rooms that Nozomi liked to visit, but she wasn't in any of them. Time was running out and Eli was running out of ideas. Once she cleared most of the academic building, she ran to the back of the school and searched the athletic fields. There was nothing there either.

Where else could she be? Right as she was about to leave, she picked up a familiar scent. It was blood, but not just any blood. It was Nozomi's. As regretful as she felt about sucking Nozomi's blood, tasting it and smelling it made it possible for her to realize that it was her. She quickly opened up her nose and followed the scent as best as she could. It eventually guided her behind the storage room where she saw a metal board laying on the ground. That was where the scent was the strongest. Eli knelt down and noticed that it was covering up a hole. She pushed the board over to the side and jumped in. The hole lead her through a long, dark maze, but eventually, she saw a small light in the distance. She quickly ran to it and hid behind the wall where the light was blocked from.

"Nico, please stop. I… can't…" It was Nozomi. Without wasting anymore time, she stormed out from behind the wall and saw Nico sucking on more of Nozomi's blood.

"Enough!" When Nico heard her voice, she pulled away from Nozomi's neck and turned around, still with blood all over her mouth.

"Wow, it's so nice of you to join us. To be honest, I didn't expect you to find us. However, that explains that you've been feasting on our precious Nozomi." Nico stepped to the side and allowed Eli to get a good look at Nozomi. The sight was horrifying. Nozomi looked so pale with blood almost all over her body. Her head was down and looked as though she could barely even move.

"Nozomi! It's me, Eli." With all of the strength she could muster, she raised her head. Unfortunately, her vision was a little blurry, but could tell it was Eli from her being around.

"Eli…cchi." She suddenly went unconscious.

"Why are you doing this?" Nico wiped her mouth and smiled.

"You don't need to know those things. I think you should be concerned about the fact that Nozomi will be mine within a matter of minutes." Eli looked at Nozomi again and saw that her mouth had blood around it.

"You didn't!"

"Oh, I most certainly did."

End of Chapter 15


	16. Chapter 16

Our Secret

Chapter 16

Vampire vs. Vampire

 **Note:** Sorry for taking a week off, but it did help me figure out the rest of the story. If you really want to know, this will be the second to last chapter so I hope you enjoy the rest of what's to come. Thank you for being so patient with me and I hope you enjoy the update.

Eli charged right at Nico with all of the speed she could muster, but it was no use. Nico dodged it easily by lowering her body. As she did this, it left Eli's body completely vulnerable. Nico uppercut her stomach and sent her flying into the ceiling. Her body hit it hard and caused to debris to fall to the ground. Nico, however, didn't waste any time. She jumped up to where Eli was and grabbed her by the neck. She then twisted her body and tossed her back to where she entered from.

"For a vampire, you're quite slow." Eli struggled to look up, but when she did, she saw Nico slowly walking back to Nozomi. She knelt down next to her and lifted her head, getting another whiff of Nozomi's scent.

"You haven't seen anything yet." In the blink of an eye, Eli disappeared from sight. Meanwhile, Nico didn't take notice of Eli's change of strategy. She just stood up straight and looked around casually. Then, out of nowhere, Nico shoved her arm forward and Eli appeared right there with Nico's fist nailing her gut.

"Still too slow." Nico jumped and gave Eli a roundhouse kick to the face.

"Eli…cchi." Eli heard Nozomi's weak voice and reached out for her.

"Nozomi, I promise I'll get you out here." While this little reunion happened, Nico examined the whole thing and decided to intervene.

"Oh, what's this? Don't tell me, she hasn't even shared her blood with you." Eli didn't respond. "That's why you don't stand a chance. Human blood is so nutritious. It makes us stronger, especially hers. Nozomi's blood is so delicious." Nico knelt down once again and rammed her fangs into Nozomi's neck.

"Nnnnoooooo!" Nico kept her eyes on Eli as she sucked out even more of Nozomi's remaining blood. "Don't do this!" After a couple of seconds, Nico finally broke away, emphasizing her joy of drinking Nozomi's blood.

"Now I'm torn. Should I take every last ounce of her or make her mine forever? How about you decide, Eli-chan?" There was no denying it. Nico was stronger. Since she didn't prey on human blood, Nico had the advantage in almost every aspect. Eli knew she had to hurry or else two horrible outcomes could become reality. "While you decide that, I'm gonna have my way with Nozomi for a while." She finally turned her back to Eli and knelt down in front of Nozomi. She cut the chains and Nozomi fell flat on the ground. Nico then climbed on top of her and smiled. "Oh Nozomi, why did things have to come down to this? We could have been together and none of this would have happened. If only you looked at me and not her."

Boom! Out of nowhere, Eli zoomed right at Nico and punched her across the room. However, this attack used up almost all of her strength and she ended up falling on top of Nozomi. Her lack of concentration on the fight gave Eli a chance, but that was it. There was no way Nico would make the same mistake twice, especially when it comes to the fate of Nozomi.

"Nozomi, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I dragged you into this. Will you ever forgive me?"

"B-Blood," she said softly.

"What?"

"Take… my blood." At that moment, Eli's eyes widened.

"What are you talking about? I can't do that/. I have to get you out of here."

"No time. Do it." From just across the way, Nico climbed out of the debris she was punched into and saw what was happening.

"Yes. Take what's left of her and make this fight worth something."

"I can't do it."

"Please." With all of the strength she could muster up, she raised her arm and touched Eli's cheek. When their skin made contact with each other, Eli could feel that warmth she loved so much. It almost felt like she was human herself. "I love you."

"I love you too." She closed her eyes and dug her fangs into Nozomi's neck. With Nozomi's blood entering Eli's body, she did her best to control herself because Nozomi didn't have a lot left. It was for only a second, but the small amount that made it into Eli's body did something she couldn't believe. She felt like an entirely new person. "Nozomi." Nozomi had her closed and her breathing grew weaker and weaker. "I'm gonna get you out of here."

"Aw, isn't that sweet? A little reassurance coming from the person who stands no chance at winning against a real vampire."

"You're not a real vampire."

"Is that so? Then how about you prove it then? Show me that you're the superior of the two." Eli and Nico stood a few feet away from each other, both with menacing looks. Their eyes were bright red and had the intent to kill. However, their motives for doing so were completely different. Nico had to get rid of Eli so she could be with Nozomi forever. Eli had to get rid of Nico because she was a threat to both of their lives and the lives of everyone in town.

Once their standoff was over, they disappeared and clashed at numerous points in the room. They were too fast to track, but it was obvious that neither one was giving the other person ground to gain the edge. It was incredible how Nozomi's blood was able to get Eli back in the fight. It even made Nico fight seriously. She could tell that Eli was different so she had to give it her all and then some if she wanted to win this fight.

The fight continued and they still refused to give each other an opening to land an attack. Punch after punch, kick after kick, things were boiling down to the wire as they were starting to run out of ideas. One of them had to give in order to name a winner. Unfortunately, Eli was the one who gave first.

"There!" As Eli kicked at Nico's head, she didn't plan on Nico retaliating so quickly. With her right hand, she furiously punched the side of Eli's thigh until she heard a cracking sound. "Gotcha!" Nico knew she had the match in her hands, but she wasn't expecting what was coming after that.

"I don't think so." Even though her leg was broken, Eli had to shake it off as Nico's attacking arm was in the open. She grabbed it and twisted her body onto of Nico's. Then, she pushed her body towards the ground and rammed her knee into the socket of her shoulder. Through an incredible feat of strength, Eli pulled her arm right out and Nico screamed out in pain.

"Aarrgghhh!" She threw away her arm and put both of her hands around her neck, gripping it as tight as she could.

"You made a mistake messing with Nozomi. I'm ending you here."

"You might have won, but… Guh! She doesn't have any time left." Eli turned her head to look over at Nozomi and noticed that she's gotten quieter since the last time they spoke to each other.

"Nozomi."

"So who's it going to be? Me or her?" At that moment, Eli released her grip on Nico's neck and charged up the biggest punch she could. She threw it across her face and nearly knocked her out. Then, with her other hand, she rammed it through Nico's chest and pulled out her heart, crushing it within her fingers.

"My answer is Nozomi." She climbed off of her body and ran to Nozomi as best as she could, despite the fact that her leg was broken. She gently lifted her body off the ground and into her arms. That's when she noticed that she was getting colder and colder. "Nozomi, please wake up. You can't do this." She didn't respond. "Nozomi!"

End of Chapter 16


	17. Chapter 17

Our Secret

Chapter 17

Transformation

 **Note:** This is the finale of the story. Sorry if this has seemed shorter than some of my other stories. I did state that this would be an experiment and surprisingly, you guys actually liked it. So I'll try some other new things in the future. However, here's the update and I hope you enjoy. Thank you for supporting me and this story and be sure to let me know how I did. Also, I have a personal request coming up at the end of the story. Happy Veteran's Day.

Nozomi's body was so weak and so cold that Eli had no idea what to do. Tears were falling from her face like rain. She tried to stay strong in front of Nozomi, but it was just too hard. There was no way she could hold in these emotions. A horrible memory of the past was coming back to her right now and there was only one thing to do. She had to be with Nozomi in her final moments and make sure she knows how she truly feels about her.

"Nozomi… I'm so sorry for everything. This is all my fault. I was supposed to protect you, but I just couldn't. I let it happen again… I'm…. I'm so sorry." Nozomi had her eyes half-open, but could easily feel the uneasiness of Eli's body.

"It's… not… your fault," she said slowly.

"No, it is. I promised that I wouldn't let anything happen to you and look at where that's gotten you. I let you get hurt and now I can't do anything about it." Nozomi muscled out a smile which only made Eli feel even worse.

"Even though… our time was short. I… enjoyed it." Nozomi was not making it easy on Eli. The words she was speaking came from her heart. The one thing Eli longed for, but it was growing further and further from her. "I love you." Eli bowed her head and tried to get as close to Nozomi as possible even though it didn't really mean anything. When she did, she smelt a strange scent. That's when she realized something. The blood on Nozomi's mouth wasn't hers; it was Nico's. Nico was trying to do the most forbidden thing in the vampire world, but she just wasn't smart enough or fast enough. Eli knew that this was the only way now.

"Nozomi, please open your mouth."

"Huh?" At that moment, Eli slit her wrist open and blood started to leak out of the cut.

"Just open your mouth. I can save you."

"Huh?" Judging by her responses, she was slipping and Eli didn't have a lot of time left. She suddenly put her wrist over her mouth and let the blood drip onto her tongue. The unfortunate things about this was that she wasn't even sure if it would work. Nozomi was on the verge of dying so there was no guarantee that it would work.

"Please work." Eli clenched her fist even tighter which caused the blood to drip from her wrist even more. "Come on!" She squeezed her fist as tight as she could until Nozomi managed to move her body one last time. She slowly brought up her hand to Eli's and pushed it away. "No. No, no, no! Don't do this, Nozomi! Nozomi!" Once Eli's wrist was away from her mouth, Nozomi's arm dropped onto her body and went limp. Her body turned even colder until Eli knew what this truly meant. "Nnnoooooo!"

Her voice echoed through the entire room and then came back around to her. She gently shook her body to try and wake her up, but it didn't work. Nozomi passed the point of coming back to her. Eli just didn't want to accept that fact. This kind of thing already happened to her and she wanted to make sure that it would never happen again. Unfortunately, she just couldn't. The only other girl she loved was taken away from her. As she continued to think about it, the tears resumed their business. They rolled down her face and onto Nozomi's body. She knew that holding it in wasn't worth it so she decided to go with it. She screamed as loud as she could as Nozomi was still in her arms. Déjà vu was the only thing running through her head. The girl from before died the exact same with the same result: No way to save her.

Eli continued to mourn for Nozomi until something strange started to happen. Her body was already cold, but for some reason, it was getting even colder. This sudden change caused her to suck in the tears that were about to leave her eyes. For about a minute, this was the only that happened, but Eli remained patient. She needed to know if this was what she was hoping for. Another minute later, Nozomi slightly moved her hand which caused Eli to grab with high hopes.

"Please work." Her hands twitched a little more until she slowly cracked open her eyes. In the beginning, they were their normal Cerulean Blue color, but then they immediately changed to that bright red color that all vampires had. "Oh my God." Fangs started to sprout out from her mouth and that's when Eli knew that she was just in time.

"Elicchi, is that you?" With her other hand, she raised up to Eli's face and held her cheek. "What's wrong?" She was filling up with so many emotions, but did her best to suppress the unnecessary ones.

"I'm so sorry."

"Why do you keep saying that? You didn't do anything wrong."

"No, I did. I did something without your approval… Something that has changed your life completely." She suddenly dropped her head to avoid eye contact with her. With her free hand, she grabbed Nozomi's hand and put on top of her own chest.

"What are you…" At that moment, Nozomi stopped her train of thought. "Why is my body cold?" Eli didn't respond. "Why can't I feel my heartbeat?" Even though these were such simple questions, they were tearing Eli apart. She knew that this was the only way and that things would be different from now on. "Elicchi, what happened?" Nozomi caught a glimpse of one single tear rolling down her face.

"There was nothing else I could do. I had. I'm sorry. I turned you into a…" Before she could finish her sentence, Nozomi brought herself up off the ground and wrapped her arms around Eli's body. "What are you doing?"

"You don't need to say anything. I think I understand what's going on." Eli was passed the breaking point again. She let the tears escape her eyes and she let out another scream of pain. "It's okay Elicchi." Although Nozomi was the one doing the comforting, she was also hurting inside. If what she thought was true, her normal way of life was over. However, she couldn't complain in front of Eli. She didn't know what she just went through, but it must have been hard if she's this much of a wreck.

…

After they cleaned themselves up, Nozomi ended up walking Eli back to their house where her family was waiting for her. When they walked through the door, they all stood up and stormed into the hallway entrance.

"Where have you two been?" Her father tried to put up a strong front, but when he saw Eli in the condition she was in, he just couldn't do it. "What happened?"

"We ended up finding out who that rogue vampire was."

"Did you deal with it?"

"Yes, but at a greater cost than I would have liked." They turned their heads to see Nozomi with those familiar bright red eyes.

"I see. It appears she hasn't completed her transformation yet." He motioned Eli's mother to deal with Eli's injury while he walked closer to Nozomi and examined her carefully. "How do you feel? Anything significantly different that you feel that I should be aware of."

"Um, aside from the obvious, not really."

"Good. Well, you have some time, but when the next full moon comes around, you'll have to go through some things in order for you to be the way we are meant to be." Nozomi nodded her head and he walked back into the living room. Right as he did, Nozomi heard a loud screaming from the back of the house. It was Eli's mother working on her injury. It sounded extremely so she just tried to flush it out of her head.

…

When the next full moon came around, they brought Nozomi down into the basement and chained her up against the wall. This was because a vampire transformation is when their abilities are given to them. That's also the time when a vampire is at their absolute strongest. Once the transformation is complete, things return to a much more normal state as Nozomi's seen from Eli and her family.

After the full moon, Nozomi was a complete vampire with the whole package. Eli's father welcomed her to the family and resumed their ordinary family plans. The only one who was bothered by this was Eli and Nozomi noticed this very quickly.

"Elicchi, what's wrong?"

"This is all my fault."

"Would you stop thinking about that? You said that this was the only way, right?" Eli nodded her head hesitantly. "Then there's no problem."

"But…" At that moment, Nozomi grabbed Eli's hand and pressed it against her chest.

"Do you feel that?"

"No, that's what I feel guilty about."

"No. Heart or no heart, I still feel the same way about you. I don't need a heart to be with the person I truly love. You did me a favor. Now, we'll never be apart." Nozomi pulled Eli's body into hers and hugged her. "We're the same temperature now." Nozomi just knew how to make Eli feel bad, but judging by her words, there was no sign of disappointment or sadness. It sounded like she was adjusting to this major change fairly well. Of course, there are things that she'll have to go through that aren't ideal, but she's apparently ready to face them. "As long as you're with me, nothing else matters. Thank you, Elicchi."

"Nozomi, I'm…" She stopped her train of thought and switched to something else. "Thank you Nozomi. I know now that I can't live without you either." The two of them smiled and stayed in each other's arms. Things were different, but other things were the same. The only thing that really mattered though was that Nozomi and Eli would be together forever.

End of Chapter 17

 **Ending Note:** Thank you so much for all of the support and I hope you all enjoyed the story be sure to stick around for even more stories that are already on the way. You guys are the best. Now for the request. Recently, I got an Xbox One and am trying to play with some of my friends, but most of them haven't upgraded yet. I was just wondering if you guys would like to play with me whenever you're available. Since today is a holiday, I'll be on all day probably playing Black Ops 3. I have other games, but this game is just fun. If you're interested in hanging out with me, message me you're gamertag or if you want my gamertag and we can play some games with each other. Thank you so much and I hope I can meet some of you guys.


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